Top White House official says he believes Trump speech censorship behind Bartiromo ouster at Fox

Assistant to the President Peter Navarro has been alongside Donald Trump for more than a decade, as a trade policy architect, relentless defender and even an adviser sent to prison for refusing to violate the president's executive privilege.

So when he received a text message in July from a star anchor at Fox News suggesting the storied TV network fancied by millions of conservatives might underplay a major address by the 47th president on election vulnerabilities, he sprung into action.

The text message was from longtime Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, host of the network's popular Sunday show, offering an explanation why Navarro wasn't going to appear on her show the morning after Trump's big speech as he had hoped.

The text, obtained by Just the News, was a screenshot of an internal communication among Fox News executives stating the network officially was not promoting the speech or planning morning-after coverage even though Trump was releasing newly declassified government memos detailing intelligence agency concerns dating to 2020 about election machine and voter registration data vulnerabilities.

"Hi--We don't want to promote it or push to the speech at all," the screenshot of the message stated. "We don't want to do 2020 election segments at all Thurs or Friday."

Navarro said the message was clear to him, so he sent it up the chain inside the White House, hoping Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott would be held accountable for the network's decision.

"This is unconscionable. I did what duty required. I received information that Fox and Suzanne Scott were censoring a major speech and I passed it on," Navarro told Just The News in an interview Friday night.

The episode in mid-July reportedly is at the center of a weeks-long drama inside Fox News that led to this week's decision by Fox to permanently remove Bartiromo from its airwaves.

The decision whipsawed many loyal fans of Fox News, including the president himself, who reacted with sadness.

"I can't believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on FoxNews/Business. Three different shows, always number one. Maria is a total professional and a true warrior," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

It also touched off a firestorm of false speculation, ranging from Bartiromo being officially fired to the network was trying to protect China from revelations in Trump's speech.

Just the News talked with several people with direct knowledge of what transpired who confirmed that while Bartiromo has been permanently removed from airwaves, she has not been fired. She remains under contract until 2029 and will be paid even though she won't appear on television shows.

Her lawyer confirmed as much in a statement Friday.

Attorney Bryan Freedman called reports that she was fired or is no longer a Fox employee “absolutely and unequivocally false,” saying, “we have the receipts and witnesses.”

People familiar with the episode also said the events that led to Bartiromo's ouster also had nothing to do with China, but rather with the network's reluctance to wade into anything involving the 2020 election or election machine vulnerabilities, after Fox was forced to pay hundreds-of-millions of dollars to settle defamation lawsuits by two American voting machine makers.

Bartiromo, a spokesperson for Fox and officials in the White House declined to comment.

According to Navarro, he was set to appear on Bartiromo's show the day after Trump gave his speech.

Navarro's appearance, however, was canceled before the segment, and Bartiromo offered the text message as a polite explanation for the cancellation.

Navarro said he believes Fox News' announcement that it was taking Bartiromo off the airwaves was retaliation for the shared communications and any backlash that came with it.

 "The White House expressed displeasure with the decision, and now they're blaming Maria by taking her job, and they're blaming me," he said, adding that he has not been back on Fox News for weeks since the episode.

"Her [Bartiromo] problem with Fox is that she's fearless and reports the story. My problem with Fox is that I'm fearless and tell the story," Navarro said.

It is rare for anyone inside the Trump White House to publicly express concern about Fox News, which has been a staple of conservative viewing for three decades and routinely dominates the cable channel news ratings.

Fox News carried Trump's speech live during star Sean Hannity's show, but it did not have extensive coverage on the documents or the speech in the days that followed.

Navarro said he and other administration officials have endured an "on-again, off-again" relationship with the network over the last several years.

Navarro said that in his opinion "the people of America need to know that you will not get reliable reporting from Fox News on China, on Fauci and on election security, as long as Suzanne Scott is calling the balls and strikes. And tariffs as well."

Bartiromo's rise

Bartiromo rose to national prominence after joining CNBC in 1993, following five years as a producer and writer at CNN Business News, then becoming in 1995 the first television journalist to deliver daily live reports from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. 

The Brooklyn-born NYU journalism and economics graduate quickly became a recognizable figure amid the 1990s bull market, earning the tabloid nickname “Money Honey” as she reported from the chaotic, male-dominated trading floor and later anchored programs including Squawk Box, Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo, and the syndicated Wall Street Journal Report. 

Her pioneering NYSE presence, combined with two Emmy Awards and two decades as one of CNBC’s most visible faces, established her as a leading financial journalist before she moved to Fox Business Network in 2014.

Trump praised her as a “true warrior” on social media, while speculation that she might join the administration as press secretary was dismissed by Vice President JD Vance. 

Just The News reached out to Fox News and Ms. Scott for comment but did not hear back as of the publishing of this article. 

Amanda Head is White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.