Maria Bartiromo’s messy exit from Fox News just got considerably messier.
A day after Fox News Media announced that the longtime host was leaving the network, Bartiromo’s attorney threatened a legal showdown and promised that evidence would eventually come out.
Then Peter Navarro, a senior Trump adviser, confirmed that Bartiromo had indeed shared something with him that Fox executives apparently did not want outside the building: internal network guidance about how to cover Donald Trump’s claims about the 2020 election.
In other words, the “receipts” may already be starting to surface.
Fox announced Thursday that Bartiromo was “no longer with FOX News Media” after more than 12 years with the company. The network called it a departure effective immediately but did not give a specific reason.
Bartiromo’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, isn’t accepting that version of events.
“The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false,” Freedman said.
He added: “Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses, and they will come out whether through the courthouse or otherwise.”
Fox, for its part, has essentially said its original statement stands.
But now Navarro has confirmed a key detail behind the controversy.
According to reporting from Puck, Bartiromo sent Navarro a screenshot of internal Fox Business guidance concerning coverage of Trump’s July speech about the 2020 election.
Navarro confirmed the exchange and said he passed the information “up the chain” in the White House.
That eventually led a senior Trump administration official to raise the issue with Fox leadership, according to the reporting.
Here’s where things get especially interesting.
Bartiromo had reportedly planned to have Navarro on her show to discuss Trump’s speech. But before the segment, Fox Business programming executive Ralph Giordano sent guidance to her team concerning what the network wanted covered.
Bartiromo then sent Navarro a screenshot of that guidance.
Navarro’s decision to pass it along appears to have triggered a confrontation between the White House and Fox executives.
Fox has not publicly said that this incident was the reason Bartiromo ultimately left the network. But multiple reports have connected the episode to the fallout surrounding her departure.
And the timing is hard to miss.
Bartiromo’s last Fox News appearance was Aug. 9.
For weeks afterward, she remained largely absent from the network.
Then, on Sept. 3, Fox announced that it was parting ways with her.
The network immediately began changing the programming associated with her name. “Mornings with Maria” became “Mornings with FOX Business,” while “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” was renamed “FBN’s Wall Street.” Jason Chaffetz is temporarily hosting “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Trump himself was clearly unhappy about the departure.
“I can’t believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on Fox News/Business,” Trump wrote after the announcement, calling her “a total professional” and “a true warrior.”
Bartiromo has been one of Trump’s most prominent television allies for years. She also became entangled in the legal fallout from Fox’s coverage of the 2020 election, including litigation over false claims about Dominion Voting Systems. Fox ultimately settled Dominion’s defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million in 2023.
Navarro, meanwhile, is hardly a neutral observer in the Trump orbit.
He has been one of Trump’s most loyal advisers and was involved in efforts surrounding the 2020 election. He also served time in federal prison after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating Jan. 6.
Now he’s confirming that a Fox host gave him an inside look at the network’s editorial instructions.
And that puts a very different spin on Bartiromo’s abrupt departure.
