Fox furiously denies that anchor Maria Bartiromo told Trump AG Bill Barr the same election lies she pushed on air
Bartiromo is part of Fox’s “straight news” division
Written by John Whitehouse
Published
Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly told Jonathan Karl on the record that Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo “called Barr to complain that the DOJ hadn't done anything to stop the Democrats from stealing the election.” Karl reached out to Fox, and a spokesperson for the network “denied Barr's account of the conversation on Bartiromo's behalf." A Fox spokesperson also relayed this statement to CNN’s Brian Stelter, who reported about the excerpt from Karl’s book.
Bartiromo is on the “straight” news side at Fox. Fox’s website lists her official title as global markets editor, and she anchors three different shows at Fox: Mornings with Maria and Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street on Fox Business Network, and Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News.
Over the last year, Bartiromo has been diligent in using that perch to push deranged lies about the 2020 election. (Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Fox News also named Bartiromo personally.)
Bartiromo lied about the election on the morning after the November 2 vote. Bartiromo lied about the election after the official calls were made in early November. Bartiromo lied about the election as the House of Representatives was preparing to count electoral votes in December. Bartiromo lied about the election even after the January 6 attack (she suggested the insurrection was the work of left-wing activists pretending to be Trump supporters). Bartiromo continued lying about the election months after President Joe Biden was sworn in.
Along with aggressively pushing election lies, Bartiromo was open about imploring Barr to investigate and overturn the vote. Here she is with Sean Hannity on the radio November 9:
Fox News wants us to believe that even though Bartiromo obsessively (and falsely) claimed that the election was stolen and that Barr should investigate, she would never dream of relaying this directly to Barr.
See if that makes sense to you.