AWKWARD TIMING

Fox News Host Busted in Awkward Encounter With a Trump Amid Leak Scandal

Trump’s daughter-in-law revealed her meeting with fired leaker Maria Bartiromo’s colleague.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Lara Trump had an amicable flight from Florida to Washington, D.C., the same day an ex-Fox host’s problematic communications with the White House were revealed.

Baier, 56, and Trump, 43, were aisle mates on their way from Palm Beach, Florida, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Trump revealed in a cheery social media post. In the photo, the two are smiling in what appears to be a section toward the front of the plane.

Baier, the host of Special Report, has been with Fox since 1998 and is the network’s chief political anchor. Trump, who is married to the president’s second son, Eric, hosts her own Fox News show, My View with Lara Trump, which premiered in February 2025. On the show, she has interviewed her father-in-law at least twice, in July 2025 and May of this year.

The pair’s interaction came at an awkward time. On Thursday afternoon, Fox announced that Maria Bartiromo, a supporter of the president, was no longer with the network. The reason, according to Status, was how she fed internal Fox communications to the White House.

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Bartiromo, the report said, had shared with the White House network executives’ edict not to give credence to the baseless claims Trump made about the 2020 election in his July primetime speech. Bartiromo apparently even shared with the White House the text message in which executives outlined their directive to senior employees. In so doing, Bartiromo, who had been with Fox for over 12 years, effectively violated her employment agreement.

Fox announced Bartiromo’s departure on Thursday afternoon, but did not give a reason.

“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 and a half years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” the network’s brief statement read.

A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast about the optics of Baier and Trump’s photo together in light of the news about Bartiromo.

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Bartiromo has not yet commented publicly on her ouster. She had last been on air as host of Mornings with Maria nearly one month ago.

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