MAKE MARIA GREAT AGAIN

Maria Bartiromo Reveals Dramatic Trumpy Comeback Scheme

The fired Fox anchor is about to be heard from, our must-read newsletter The Swamp reveals.

Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice and Laura Esposito are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.

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Melting down in The Swamp today are: Tyler and Katie Zacharia, Lydia Bastianich, Nick Shirley, James Blair, Mark Zuckerberg, Lara Logan, James S. Brady, John Williams, Chris LaCivita, Elon Musk, Bo Loudon, Zach Nunn, Jennica Pounds, Jon Ossoff, B.B. Langham, and Martin Scorsese.

Maria Plans Very Pointed Return to Public Eye

It turns out a messy exit from Fox is no obstacle to a triumphant MAGA homecoming.

Maria Bartiromo, whose abrupt departure from Fox News remains shrouded in mystery, will re-emerge at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago next month.

And it will be a very pointed snub to the network which she once towered over, as the host of Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, and Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.

Because Bartiromo, once the face of the most establishment MAGA journalism will instead be sticking an eye in that journalism—by honoring “citizen journalists” as guest of honor at James O’Keefe’s Citizen Journalism Foundation gala.

Her job: hand out the Citizen Journalist of the Year award at a black-tie bash where tickets start at $3,000; a table of 10 (and parking) will set you back as much as $100,000, according to the flier.

The November 12 gathering at Trump’s Palm Beach club is expected to draw a who’s who of the MAGA internet world.

Among them will be Nick Shirley (whose viral videos accusing Somali-run Minnesota daycares of fraud sparked a political firestorm); Bo Loudon (Barron Trump’s nepo bestie—his parents are conservative TV personality Gina Loudon and state senator John Loudon); Lara Logan (the 60 Minutes correspondent turned right wing conspiracy theorist) and Data Republican (aka Jennica Pounds, a MAGA influencer who was recently exposed as being a special government employee of the Department of Defense).

Then there’s O’Keefe himself, the founder of Project Veritas, which became notorious for its deceptively-edited and politically-biased undercover stings targeting political opponents and media organizations.

Which means that Bartiromo will appear in front of a load of people whose sole purpose in life is to record, or even livestream what they see—making it impossible for her words not to be widely distributed.

That will have Rupert Murdoch’s lieutenants on edge.

Since she left Fox in murky circumstances on Sept. 3, Bartiromo has been effectively gagged: Her “pay-or-play” contract is still in force, preventing her from broadcasting on television or elsewhere without Fox’s approval. But handing out awards in a “private” ballroom is a different deal.

Bartiromo has made a low-key appearance at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to celebrate Columbus Day. She was there to ring the opening bell, with a group including TV chef Lidia Bastianich, and Trump’s deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, leading to the spectacle of her old FBN network—which shows the opening bell every morning, often at length—killing a shot in which she was just about visible with uncommon speed.

Hearing from Bartiromo will be intriguing. Fox announced in September that it was parting ways with the anchor after 12 years, offering only the wonderfully unilluminating explanation that it was a “business decision.”

Reports have linked her exit to tensions over her handling of an internal Fox memo, though the precise circumstances remain murky.

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But for a journalist whose coverage of Trump’s baseless 2020 election-fraud claims helped land Fox in a $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion, next month’s re-emergence will be a return to familiar territory.

And what could follow Bartiromo being heard from?

There’s an ambassadorship in Greece that needs filling now that another former FOX outcast has “resigned.”

Katie’s Husband and a China Connection

Katie Zacharia’s movie producer husband, Tyler, has found himself a new job looking after the couple’s four children at home in Huntington Beach, California, while his wife carries out her 24/7 duties as Donald Trump’s White House Attack Dog Secretary in D.C. Judging by her debut performance at the podium in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Tuesday, Katie is going to need all the help she can get.

Her hubby—who was a producer on Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (estimated cost around $200 million with earnings of about $5 million in its limited theatrical engagement) might be of some help dealing with some of the president’s favorite dictators. Tyler is fluent in Mandarin and set up a team in North Korea during the eight years he spent in Beijing, China, as Vice President of Schulze Global Investments, a global emerging markets private equity firm. With Trump heading back to China next month, Katie and Tyler should consider getting a sitter. Maybe Karoline Leavitt will be free…

Ku Klux Klan? Check. Domestic Abuse? Check. Get Campaigning!

Georgia candidate Mike Collins must be the busiest man on Earth. Running a flailing campaign for the Georgia Senate seat currently held by Jon Ossoff is apparently such a herculean undertaking that he can’t even spare a second to vet the people working for him. In addition to people with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, Collins has enlisted several people with criminal backgrounds to help run his grassroots operation, The Swamp has learned. Perhaps the most shocking is B.B. Langham, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony cruelty to children, along with charges of family violence and sexual battery—stemming from an incident involving his own (minor) stepdaughter. Apparently, after a short stint in prison and a decade of probation, the natural next step is a place amongst the ranks of MAGA. Who wouldn’t want a guy like that knocking on their door?

Trump’s State Fair Sparks Multi-Million Treasure Hunt

Trump’s unforgettably disastrous Great American State Fair has a sequel: A Great American Treasure Hunt. It’s one The Swamp is starting. Because we’ve reviewed the budget for the fair, and the whole Freedom 250 lollapalooza it was part of, and have discovered that there are millions out there somewhere to be found.

First, some back story. Before the fair, MAGA acolyte Chris LaCivita, along with chief Trump fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke spent months tapping Trumpworld connections to solicit private donations for America’s 250th birthday celebrations.

And boy, did they do well. In fact, they brought in $50 million in private donations from companies like Chevron, United Airlines and defense conglomerate RTX, which were identified by a bombshell Wall Street Journal report in August.

LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 campaign co-manager, and O’Rourke, who Trump reportedly calls his “Princess of Darkness,” were both placed on the board of the National Park Foundation, which legally houses Freedom 250. Businessman Keith Krach was installed as CEO, Trump as chair and JD Vance as vice-chair. And then the spending began.

A budget obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) shows that Freedom 250 events—from the empty crowds of the Great American State Fair to the low-key energy of the president’s military parade—were projected to cost $128.45 million.

Wondering how much each of the events cost? The Great American State Fair (best known for its lack of crowds and melted ice cream) was allocated about $25 million. The July Fourth “Salute to America” celebration (which turned into a MAGA-style rally with not-so-family-friendly midnight fireworks) was budgeted at $20 million. The Patriot Games (think Hunger Games with more school athletes and less violence) were projected to cost $18.5 million.

But there’s a catch. The total bill was $128.45 million. The budget disclosed that Freedom 250 would bill taxpayers $114.2 million. The difference is where private funds then kick in. But the difference between the total cost and the bill to taxpayers is $14.25 million—even though Freedom 250 raised $50 million.

So where did $35.75 million go? The Swamp has asked Freedom 250 to no effect. (LaCivita, you may recall, abandoned a lawsuit against the Daily Beast without getting the “triple damages” he demanded, or an apology, or a retraction, before he would have been compelled to hand over his tax returns and bank account details.)

Let the Great American Treasure Hunt for the $35.75 million begin!

Zuckerberg Just Keeps Getting Trump’s Like$

You get the feeling Mark Zuckerberg likes being back in Donald Trump’s good graces. At last month’s White House summit, the META boss sat at the center of the tech world’s power circle, with industry heavyweights signing a document he helped craft to “self-police” AI and manage serious safety risks. Zuckerberg called it “historic.”

But Trump has another reason to be pleased with the Facebook founder, with the president’s latest financial disclosure revealing a purchase of between $5 million and $25 million in Meta stock on August 21.

The purchase was the biggest single transaction Trump made, in a report covering more than 500 trades, with the president now likely to reap millions from Zuckerberg’s tech firm.

But Zuckerberg is hardly alone in the rehabilitation business. Remember when Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s bromance ended in a spectacular public meltdown, complete with insults, threats and a very messy breakup?

Trump’s disclosure also reveals a purchase of between $1 million to $5 million Musk’s SpaceX debt just two days before the president issued an August 20 memorandum pushing for more rocket launches, faster permits and expanded access to federal launch facilities.

Little wonder Musk has poured a whopping $276 million into Republican groups and his own super PAC in recent months to help the party retain control of Congress.

The White House says independent managers make Trump’s investment decisions, and the filings don’t establish that he personally directed either trade.

Still, nice of him to give Zuckerberg a nice, big, fat like!

Reflecting Poorly on Trump

One week ago, Donald Trump declared the Reflecting Pool “totally complete” before also claiming it was “almost complete” and that he expects it to be refilled. As of Tuesday, crews were still refilling the pool with water for a second time, nearly six months after it was first drained for renovations. Trump said on April 27 the project would take one week, so forgive us if we’re skeptical of his latest claims. As water was being returned to the pool, the paint job appeared to be much darker than the president’s original botched attempt to paint it “American flag blue.”

But it’s hard to tell exactly where the project stands. Fencing still surrounds the entire Reflecting Pool, keeping visitors well away from the project on the National Mall as crews can be seen sweeping around the edges where it still remains dry. With the pipes now “fixed,” one can only hope that there won’t be the same algae crisis that there was this summer. The water already appeared to be collecting debris and some scum. The Swamp asked the Interior Department about the timeline for it being completely refilled and when the fencing might come down and got a bizarre response referring us directly to the president’s latest comments. Last week, Trump said it was “about as vandal proof as you can get” even after it was found there was no vandalism, just a botched job. The Interior Department also refused to share whether there would be any additional cleaning measures once the pool is filled, raising the possibility that the bits of debris already building up could just keep growing unless crews are out to clean it up upon completion. Which is about as clear as the water itself!

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