Fox News is parting ways with one of its most recognizable and most openly pro-Trump voices.
Maria Bartiromo is out after more than 12 years at the network, Fox News announced Thursday, without giving a reason for her departure.
“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” the company said.
No explanation. No farewell tour. Just a statement, and suddenly, Bartiromo’s long run at Fox is over.
The veteran financial journalist hosted “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business, which aired Thursday morning before the network announced her departure. The program will now be rebranded “Morning with Fox Business.”
Her other programs are changing hands as well.
“Sunday Morning Futures,” which Bartiromo also hosted, will be led by former Rep. Jason Chaffetz this Sunday, with Fox expected to announce a permanent host later. Her Friday program, “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street,” will become “FBN’s Wall Street.”
For a journalist who spent years building one of the most valuable relationships in television news—with Donald Trump—the sudden exit is raising plenty of eyebrows.
Bartiromo first became a major television name in the 1990s at CNBC, where she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
She eventually hosted programs including “Closing Bell” and “On the Money with Maria Bartiromo,” establishing herself as a respected financial journalist long before Trump became the center of her political coverage.
Then came Fox.
Bartiromo joined Fox News in 2014 and continued covering business and economics. But her profile—and her ratings—grew dramatically once she began interviewing Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The relationship only became closer during Trump’s subsequent campaigns and presidency.
Trump repeatedly praised Bartiromo, and at one point reportedly considered her as a potential running mate for his 2024 presidential campaign.
Her interviews with Trump also became a frequent source of controversy.
Critics accused Bartiromo of giving Trump an unusually friendly platform, rarely challenging his claims and often asking questions that gave him an opening to deliver his preferred talking points.
One interview in particular became impossible to forget.
After Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Bartiromo landed Trump’s first television interview following the defeat.
Trump used the 45-minute interview to push his baseless claims that the election had been “rigged” and was a “fraud.”
Rather than pressing him for evidence, Bartiromo largely allowed Trump to make his case.
At one point, she appeared to embrace the premise herself.
“This is disgusting!” Bartiromo said while discussing Trump’s allegations of election fraud. “And we cannot allow America’s election to be corrupted. We cannot.”
Trump, naturally, loved it.
He called her “brave.”
The interview became a symbol of the criticism Bartiromo faced: that she was no longer simply interviewing Trump, but providing him with a sympathetic venue to amplify claims that had been repeatedly rejected by courts and election officials.
Fox defended her at the time.
In 2018, after another heavily scrutinized Trump interview, then-Fox Business president Brian Jones pushed back against criticism of Bartiromo, saying her “wide-ranging interview” had “made news on multiple fronts and elicited answers to numerous questions.”
The network, he said, was “proud of her hard work and continued success.”
That success continued for years. Until Thursday.
Bartiromo’s sudden departure has already triggered speculation about what comes next.
One rumor making the rounds is that she could be headed for the White House as press secretary, potentially replacing Karoline Leavitt.
Vice President JD Vance, however, did not exactly sound like someone confirming a major administration move.
“I don’t know, man. No, I don’t think so,” Vance said when asked about the possibility.
He said he had just learned about Bartiromo’s departure.
“I love Maria. I think she’s an amazing person, amazing talent,” Vance said. “I don’t get involved in the personal drama of media stations.”
Whatever happens next, he added, she would do well. “She’s a very, very dear friend.”
