Peter Navarro is offering his account of the events surrounding Maria Bartiromo’s departure from Fox News, saying the former Fox anchor sent him an internal network message concerning coverage of President Donald Trump’s July 16 address, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.
Navarro discussed the matter Tuesday night with Newsmax host Greg Kelly, addressing reports that his handling of the message played a role in the circumstances surrounding Bartiromo’s exit.
Why did Fox suddenly drop Maria Bartiromo after 12 years? pic.twitter.com/Cd1qcoxcyr
— TaraBull (@TaraBull_9) September 10, 2026
“Absolutely not,” Navarro said when asked whether he had dragged Bartiromo’s name into the controversy or caused her removal.
“The text was sent to me. It was my duty to forward on. And Maria Bartiromo was aghast at what the network was doing.”
Fox News Media announced on September 3 that Bartiromo was no longer with the company after more than 12 years.
The network did not provide a specific reason for the departure. Fox said, “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”
Bartiromo had been the host of several programs, including “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business, “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” and “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.
Fox subsequently announced that “Mornings with Maria” would become “Mornings with FOX Business,” while “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” would be renamed “FBN’s Wall Street.” Jason Chaffetz was scheduled to host “Sunday Morning Futures” temporarily.
The circumstances surrounding the departure became the subject of additional reporting after Bartiromo was alleged to have shared internal Fox guidance with Navarro concerning coverage of Trump’s July 16 address.
According to Navarro, Bartiromo had booked him to appear the following morning to discuss the president’s speech. Navarro said Fox subsequently decided against moving forward with the planned coverage.
The message Navarro says Bartiromo forwarded came from Fox Business programming executive Ralph Giordano. It stated:
“Hi, we don’t want to promote it or push to the speech at all. We don’t want to do 2020 election segments at all Thurs or Friday.”
Navarro said he forwarded the message to the White House. Newsmax separately reported that Navarro said Bartiromo had sent him the directive after booking him to discuss the president’s address.
During his interview with Kelly, Navarro criticized Fox leadership and argued that the network had become reluctant to cover certain issues associated with Trump and his political movement.
“Greg, this is like unbelievable,” Navarro said.
“You got a primetime address by the president of the United States. Those are very rare. And it’s about the Chinese Communist Party basically hacking into more than 200 million voter files and doing other things to interfere in our election. … And Suzanne Scott over at the mothership at Fox didn’t want to have anything to do with that.”
Navarro also identified Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox Business executive Ralph Giordano while discussing what he described as the network’s approach to politically sensitive coverage.
Kelly asked Navarro about speculation involving Fox ownership and Trump. Navarro said he believed advertisers were an important factor in the network’s business decisions.
“I don’t know, but I know I think Rupert and the boss get along. Well, it’s about the advertisers. … Don’t offend basically Big Pharma. Don’t offend the multinational corporations that ship over all of the jobs to China. You can’t do that. So you got to try to keep the audience happy, but you don’t offend the advertisers. That’s the buzzsaw that Dobbs and Carlson ran into.”
Navarro also confirmed that he had spoken with Bartiromo since her departure.
“Yes. … She’s not happy. … She’s not being treated fairly.”
Bartiromo’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, has separately disputed reports that she was fired or was no longer employed by Fox.
Freedman said such reports were “absolutely and unequivocally false.” Fox, meanwhile, has maintained its original announcement regarding the separation.
President Trump publicly praised Bartiromo after Fox announced the split, calling her “a total professional, and a true warrior.”
As of September 9, Fox News Media had not publicly stated that Bartiromo’s sharing of the internal guidance was the reason for her departure.
The network has characterized the separation as a business decision while declining to provide further details.
Navarro’s comments therefore add another account to an increasingly public dispute over what happened behind the scenes before Bartiromo’s exit.
For now, Fox’s official explanation remains limited, while Navarro maintains that the internal message he received and forwarded to the White House was central to the controversy.
