A journalist who reported on behind-the-scenes details surrounding Maria Bartiromo’s departure from Fox News suggested Friday she might find a new job close to her longtime ally, President Donald Trump.
“Status” founder Oliver Darcy was asked by MS Now’s Nicolle Wallace whether he has “any sense” of where the former “Mornings with Maria” host might go next.
“No idea, but there is that open spot to be press secretary,” he replied.
Fox News announced Bartiromo’s departure after 12 years with a pleasant goodbye Thursday. That same day, Darcy, as well as Puck News’ Dylan Byers, reported that Bartiromo had been ousted after she sent the White House a screenshot of a confidential memo telling Fox employees not to cover Trump’s latest conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
Bartiromo’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement that “irresponsible reports” that she had been fired were “absolutely and unequivocally false.”
“Basically she went and tattletaled to Donald Trump that Fox News isn’t covering your big speech because they don’t want to get involved in this,” Darcy told Wallace. “And you can imagine that probably wouldn’t sit well with the White House, but also with her employers.”
Darcy floated Bartiromo as a possible replacement for former press secretary Karoline Leavitt due to her long history with the president.
The ex-Fox host is a “very close ally with Donald Trump, and … she’s a personal friend of his,” Darcy said. “She’s known him for a long time outside his 10 years in public office. She’s known him from back in his New York days, and so maybe he’ll come in, swoop in, save her. We’ll see.”
He added, “She needs a job.”
Bartiromo rose to prominence in the mid-1990s as the first person to report live from the New York Stock Exchange floor. She joined the Fox News network in 2014, and later became known for her fawning interviews with Trump.
“I think some people on Fox are smart enough to know that Donald Trump should not be going down this 2020 election rabbit hole. We’re in 2026; like, he should be talking about the economy,” he said. “But, some people are smart enough to understand this, and then you have Maria Bartiromo, who’s a true believer, a close ally and personal friend of the president.”
Bartiromo was named in two prominent lawsuits against Fox News Media, including one by Dominion Voting Systems, which was settled in April 2023. Smartmatic’s lawsuit against the media company is ongoing.
According to Darcy, the veteran journalist “got brain worms at some point and just believes all this MAGA nonsense that’s out there.”
“I mean, I don’t even know if Trump believes half the stuff, but she was happy to serve as his mouthpiece, and maybe she’ll find a place in the White House,” he said.