Maria Bartiromo attended the launch of first lady Melania Trump’s IMPERIA summit for women CEOs at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, her first public appearance since leaving Fox nearly three weeks earlier. Her lawyer disputes reports she was fired.
IMPERIA is a new initiative intended to bring women business executives together. At the launch, Melania Trump rang the NYSE opening bell; her senior adviser Marc Beckman said the forum would let women do business together, move capital, influence policy and collaborate across sectors.
Fox announced Bartiromo’s departure on September 3, thanking her for more than 12 years at the company but offering no explanation. Media watchdog Status reported that Fox Business officials told on-air talent not to discuss Trump’s July speech, which included unfounded election-interference claims, and that Bartiromo breached her employment agreement by leaking the directive to the White House. Her lawyer disputed reports of her firing and the facts cited to support them. Fox News had agreed to pay a company formerly called Dominion Voting Systems about $787 million in a defamation suit over its promotion of 2020 election conspiracies.
