President Donald Trump went to Truth Social within hours to mourn the departure of an ally who had given him a platform for years. Longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo was no longer with the company after more than 12 years, Fox News Media had announced earlier on Thursday, September 3, 2026. Her attorney answered a day later, saying flatly that reports she had been fired were untrue.

That evening Trump wrote that he could not believe Bartiromo would no longer be hosting her programs on Fox News and Fox Business. He noted that she had run three separate shows that consistently ranked first, called her a complete professional and a genuine fighter, predicted her many admirers would be unhappy, and closed with a blessing.

Fox’s Brief Statement Offered No Reason

Fox News Media kept the announcement to two sentences: effective that day, Bartiromo was no longer with the company, and the network thanked her for 12 1/2 years of work and wished her well in her next chapter. The statement gave no explanation for the split. A Fox News spokesperson separately characterized the move as a business decision.

Her last appearance on the air had come in early August, though the final episode of the program bearing her name aired on Fox Business the morning of the announcement. Patrick Ignozzi, her top producer, was also out. Both departures were said to be tied to the same alleged leak of internal editorial guidance to a Trump administration official. Her biography and the pages hosting videos from her shows came down from Fox’s websites within hours of the announcement; as of September 11, her bio page returned a “Server error. Person not found.” message.

Her Attorney Says She Wasn’t Fired

Attorney Bryan Freedman hit back hard on Friday, September 4, saying assertions that his client had been fired or is no longer working at Fox are “absolutely and unequivocally false.” Calling the coverage irresponsible, he vowed to prove it wrong and threatened legal action; Bartiromo, he said, is one of the hardest-working journalists in the business, and he noted that she hosted three number-one-rated shows on Fox channels.

“Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses,” Freedman said in his statement. Fox responded to the denial by saying that its release speaks for itself. In earlier disputes with media employers, Freedman represented broadcasters Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson.

Bartiromo broke her public silence on September 10 with a post on X. “I am so grateful for the outpouring of love on SM and texts. I love you all,” she wrote, ending the post with “More to come,” alongside a photograph she said she took of a rainbow breaking through the sky. The post came one day before her 59th birthday, on September 11. She has announced no new job, media deal or project.

A Text Message and a Screengrab

A person with knowledge of events, granted anonymity to discuss internal network matters, gave this account. Trump delivered a speech on election security in July and wanted the television networks to cover it. A Fox Business executive then sent a text to the executive producers of several programs, instructing them not to keep the speech alive on air the following day — a caution rooted in the network’s own record on the subject, and in Trump’s.

That text reached Bartiromo when the executive producer of her morning business show forwarded it to her, according to the same person, and she sent a screengrab of it to a Trump associate. The White House then challenged Fox.

Trump used the July 16 speech to assert that recent American elections had been rigged and stolen, and to allege that millions of voter files were illegally accessed by China in an attempt to influence the 2018 and 2020 elections.

The Fox announcement set off speculation that Bartiromo, who is close to the president, might move into the White House press secretary job that Karoline Leavitt left open when she stepped down in August. Vice President JD Vance addressed that speculation at a White House briefing on Thursday, September 3, telling reporters he did not believe she would take that role. His praise for her was warm — an amazing person and talent and a dear friend — though he said he had not spoken with her and did not know the back story. The board of the John F. Kennedy Center had earlier gained Bartiromo and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, both appointed by Trump.

Fox Renames Her Shows as Legal Fights Continue

Fox wasted no time taking her name off the schedule. “Mornings with Maria,” a weekday show from 6 to 9 a.m. ET, became “Mornings with FOX Business” with rotating anchors beginning Friday, September 4. “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” was renamed “FBN’s Wall Street,” with Cheryl Casone hosting the week of September 7 before rotating anchors take over. Her Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” is being hosted by former Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz for the time being, with a permanent host to be named later.

She spent two decades at CNBC — picking up the nickname “The Money Honey,” hosting “Closing Bell” and becoming the first journalist to report live daily from the New York Stock Exchange floor — before arriving at Fox Business in 2014, where her programs filled more than 16 hours a week across the business network and Fox News Channel.

Two defamation cases also named her as a defendant over her coverage of the 2020 election. In a 2021 suit, Dominion Voting Systems sought $1.6 billion, alleging she let false election claims air to keep pro-Trump viewers from defecting; Fox settled that case for $787.5 million in April 2023. A separate suit brought by Smartmatic remains active, and until Thursday, September 3, Bartiromo was the only individual defendant in that litigation who was still employed by Fox. Attorneys for the network were in court that morning for a hearing tied to the Smartmatic case.