DOUBLE WHAMMY

Fox Fires Top Executive Over Its Bonkers TrumpyLeaks Scandal

The network dismissed a senior producer in addition to one of its biggest stars.

Maria Bartiromo wasn’t the only one axed by Fox News amid her leaking scandal.

Patrick Ignozzi, the executive producer of Bartiromo’s Mornings with Maria program on Fox Business, has also been fired, according to Puck’s Dylan Byers. CNN’s Brian Stelter also confirmed the Emmy Award-winning producer’s Thursday firing.

It’s unclear why Ignozzi was fired, though it’s likely connected to Bartiromo’s ouster.

The news coincides with a Status report that revealed Fox fired Bartiromo, 58, for divulging confidential internal guidance regarding coverage of President Donald Trump to the White House.

The incident occurred in July after Trump, 80, gave a primetime address to the nation in which he alleged China was responsible for meddling in the 2020 presidential election.

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The outlet reported that Fox executives advised senior staffers to refrain from giving airtime to Trump’s false election claims, doing so via written instructions. The network largely abided, bewildering many—including the White House.

Bartiromo ultimately revealed her network’s internal instructions to the White House—even showing them the text message orders she received from upper management, according to Status.

After the Rupert Murdoch-owned network learned through a phone call from the White House that Bartiromo had violated her employment agreement, Fox cut her airtime and formally announced her departure.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Fox News for comment.

BACKSTABBING BARTIROMO

Jaw-Dropping Reason Fox Abruptly Fired Trumpy Star Revealed

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Before he joined Fox, Ignozzi, 57, worked at both NBC Universal and ABC, where he earned a Daytime Emmy for his work as a supervising producer on The View in 2002. He served as the talk show’s senior producer for 16 years.

Fox announced Bartiromo’s immediate departure from the network on Thursday without warning or explanation, only providing a brief statement saying that they “wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

A network spokesperson told Status that Bartiromo’s ousting was “a business decision and the release speaks for itself.”

AWKWARD TIMING

Fox Host Pictured With a Trump After Network’s Secrets Leak

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Soon after the network’s announcement, Bartiromo’s digital presence was scrubbed clean—with Fox Business Network taking down her contributor page entirely.

The three programs she hosted on the network, including Mornings with Maria, will be renamed or shifted to other anchors.

Bartiromo joined Fox after over 20 years at CNBC, where she was the first woman to report live from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Throughout her time at the network, she grew closer to Trump, who views her as “fantastic” and “fabulous.” The two shared dinners, and she was even included on the president’s board for the Kennedy Center.

Perhaps her most brazen act of loyalty to Trump involved her parroting his 2020 election-fraud claims. In 2020, the Trumpy anchor alleged live on air that an “intel source” told her “President Trump did in fact win the election.”

Her coverage was central to the defamation claims Dominion Voting Systems filed against Fox, which resulted in the network paying a whopping $787.5 million in a 2023 settlement.

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Vic VerbalaitisNight Breaking News Reporter

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