There was no mention of Maria Bartiromo on the Fox Business morning slot she used to anchor after the veteran host was unceremoniously removed from the network.
The Fox show, Mornings with Maria, was quickly rebranded as Mornings with FOX Business after Bartiromo was ousted Thursday for allegedly leaking an internal company message to the White House.
During Friday’s broadcasts of the renamed morning show, Bartiromo’s replacement, Cheryl Casone, made no mention of her predecessor or her absence at any point during the three-hour broadcast.
The only time Casone acknowledged Bartiromo was when she mistakenly told viewers they were watching “Mornings with Maria,” before quickly correcting herself to say “Fox Business” and cutting to commercial.
Fox News was equally brutal when announcing Bartiromo’s shock departure on Thursday.
“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” a spokesperson for the network said, offering no explanation for her departure.
The network also removed Bartiromo’s online bio from the Fox Business website and announced that her show, Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street, would be renamed FBN’s Wall Street. The show will be hosted by Casone for the time being before switching to rotating anchors.
Status later reported that Bartiromo was fired after she shared confidential company information with the White House regarding an internal Fox News message instructing staff not to report on Donald Trump’s flop primetime address in July.
Trump had hyped his speech as the announcement of “really big news” on election security. In reality, it only amounted to the 80-year-old president pushing 2020 election conspiracy theories, including unsubstantiated claims that China had meddled in the election to help Joe Biden defeat him.
Fox News then sent a written message telling all employees to steer clear of covering Trump’s speech, which was filled with false election fraud claims about the results of the election six years earlier.
Bartiromo then shared the memo with the White House in what appeared to be an attempt to explain why the pro-Trump network was not covering the president’s speech.
Status’ Oliver Darcy reported that Bartiromo had not only “effectively betrayed” her employer but had also allegedly violated the terms of her employment agreement by handing the memo over to Trump’s team.
Fox News still has not confirmed the specific reasons for Bartiromo’s departure. However, she was already under fire after being at the center of Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which repeatedly aired false claims that its voting machines were used to rig the 2020 election. The network ultimately settled the lawsuit for $787.5 million in 2023.
Speaking to CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins on Thursday, Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst, suggested that Bartiromo’s ousting was “in part because she wanted to promote Trump’s conspiratorial claims, and Fox refused to let her.”
Stelter added that by letting Bartiromo go, Fox News was signaling that it was no longer going to “tolerate that kind of conspiratorial c--p” about election fraud on its airwaves.
“They’ve been very expensive. They’ve been a huge headache, and that might say something about 2026 as we look to the midterms and all the concern about how Trump might try to meddle in the midterms,” Stelter said.
“Fox is pro-Trump in many other ways, but I think in some ways they might be drawing a line, not just in the past, but maybe in the future.”
Trump lamented the departure of one of his top allies at Fox News in a Truth Social post.
“I can’t believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on Fox News/Business. Three different shows, always number one. Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior,” Trump wrote. “Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy. God bless you, Maria!”
