Longtime host Maria Bartiromo disputes reports of Fox News termination

Maria Bartiromo is disputing reports that she was terminated from her longtime gig as a host of various segments for cable TV networks Fox News and Fox Business.

"The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false," her attorney said in a Friday statement.

Fox News, in response to Bartiromo's comments Friday, said its brief statement from a day earlier "speaks for itself."

On Thursday, Fox Corp .'s Fox News Media announced Bartiromo had parted ways with its networks.

"We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter," Fox News said in Thursday's statement, without providing reasoning or cause for her departure.

Various media outlets have since reported that Bartiromo was fired for violating company policy.

A former CNBC anchor, Bartiromo led the daily show "Mornings with Maria," as well as the Friday program "Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street," on Fox Business Network. She also led Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

The conservative network Fox News is the top-rated cable TV news channel in the U.S.

Bartiromo was one of the Fox News anchors named in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case in which the company accused Fox of making false on-air allegations that Dominion had helped rig the 2020 presidential election when Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden . While Bartiromo was scheduled to testify as a witness if the lawsuit went to trial, Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle the lawsuit in 2023.

Fox faces a similar ongoing defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic USA, in which Bartiromo is also a defendant.