Maria Bartiromo, for a dozen years an outspoken Fox Business News anchor and devoted Trump sycophant, was suddenly ousted today from the network, as yet, without explanation.
But it could have something to do with the fact she is the sole remaining Fox News talking head defendant in the towering $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit over the network’s reporting on the 2020 election.
Smartmatic, a London company that provides election technology and services, including voting machines, filed the lawsuit in 2021 after it accused Bartiromo and other Fox hosts of knowingly spreading false election-fraud conspiracies about the company.
The case has been locked in pre-trial legal wrangling since then. A date for a jury trial is expected to be set should Smartmatic prevail in pending cross-motions for summary judgment now before New York State Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen.
New York courts have rejected Fox News’ efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed or delayed.
More Reading: Tucker Carlson’s Sad, Final Days on Fox News; Dominion Lawsuit May Deliver Fatal Blow
Bartiromo last appeared on air on Aug. 9. She has not issued a statement about her status. The company announced her departure by issuing a terse statement: “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”
Fox made no mention of the Smartmatic lawsuit, but Bartiromo has figured prominently in the case, including the recent revelation that she had been paid $70 million over her tenure at the network.
Her on-air interviews and commentary had become a sounding board for pro-Trump opinions and the president’s many lies and mistatements, reportedly alienating corporate executives and causing high-profile CEOs to avoid her programs.
More Reading: Are Fox News Talking Heads Russian Agents? New CIA Report Points to Kremlin Media Connection
The civil case has been complicated by the Trump Department of Justice’s sudden indictment of Smartmatic executives for alleged foreign bribery and money laundering regarding a 2016 election in the Philippines.
Smartmatic claimed the charges were ginned up by the Trump administration in an effort to derail the defamation case. Fox cited the indictment in a motion to pause the case, but the New York State Supreme Court denied Fox’s request.
The Smartmatic suit is nearly identical to a suit against Fox News filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion argued that Fox knowingly broadcast false conspiracy theories claiming its voting machines were rigged to steal the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
On the eve of the Dominion trial, pre-trial testimony was released showing that network executives and hosts privately called election fraud conspiracy theories “crazy” and “nuts” while continuing to broadcast them to protect ratings.
More Reading: Capitol Riot Began Before Jan 6; Violent Fox News, GOP Rhetoric Hyped the ‘Big Lie’
Just as opening statements were to begin in April 2023, both sides announced a $787.5 million settlement of the case.
Those same internal Fox communications are also central to the Smartmatic suit.
The Smartmatic complaint singles out multiple episodes of Bartiromo’s shows during which guests like Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell claimed that Smartmatic software was specifically designed and used to rig elections, according to media reports.
The lawsuit alleges that Bartiromo did not act merely as a neutral interviewer, but effectively endorsed and amplified the conspiracy theories rather than challenging them.
Unsealed court documents show Bartiromo communicating directly with Powell and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani behind the scenes, encouraging them in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results while continuing to push the claims on air.
Bartiromo claims her statments on her show are protected by the First Amendment and that Smartmatic has failed to prove “actual malice,” a legal hurdle in defamation cases involving public figures.
More Reading: Fox News, Murdochs Must Answer for Fomenting ‘Hatred, Division,’ Leading Up to Capitol Riot
Both Powell and Giuliani were named defendants along with hard right Fox News commentators Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro.
Fox abruptly canceled Dobbs’ program in 2021. Dobbs was one of the most aggressive on-air promoters of unproven 2020 election fraud claims.
Because his cancellation coincided directly with the Smartmatic lawsuit, media observers noted that Fox likely sidelined him to mitigate escalating legal and financial risks, according to reports. Dobbs died in 2024, but his estate is still a defendant.
Pirro allegedly used her former Fox News program, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” to promote and amplify the baseless conspiracy theories that Smartmatic rigged the 2020 presidential election.
Internal communications later unsealed in the case revealed that Fox executives privately worried about her on-air claims. One executive referring to her via text message as a “reckless maniac.”
More Reading: Fox News, Trump Lawyer Face Retraction Demands Over Baseless Fraud Claims
She reportedly ignored instructions to balance her coverage with Dominion and Smartmatic’s responses. Pirro actually admitted under oath that she believed the 2020 election was “fair and free” and that Joe Biden was legitimately elected.
Pirro left the network last year after she was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. She has since been accused of attempting to use her office to carry out criminal prosecutions of Trump’s political opponents.
Bartiromo is the last Fox News defendant to leave the network. Her departure could be citied to mitigate damages should the Smartmatic case go to trial or end in a settlement.
Media watchdogs and legal experts argued that Bartiromo’s reputaton as a respected financial journalist has been tarnished by her unabashed Trump sycophantic media proselytizing.
More Reading: Dog Eat Dog: NY Times Calls Out Fox News Over al-Baghdadi Story; Demands Apology
In one recent instance — an April 2026 interview with Trump — Bartiromo allowed the president to make unsubstantiated or false claims without follow-up questions, critics noted.
Instead of pressing him for evidence, critics argued she often agreed with his talking points or actively guided the conversation to favor his administration’s messaging.
Keith Girard has four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written non-fiction books on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War and Donald Trump and two novels, “The Heidelberg Conundrum” and “The Curse of Northam Bay.”