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EXCLUSIVE: The coup de grâce that caused Fox to announce this week that Maria Bartiromo would “no longer be with” the conservative news outlet was a case of “very bad judgment” and a long time coming, sources say.

The assertions come Friday despite Bartiromo’s Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman insisting the veteran Wall Street anchor is still “an employee” of Fox and threatening legal action. Adding to the burgeoning media mess surrounding the so-called “Money Honey,” Donald Trump had thrown serious shade on Fox for taking good pal Bartiromo off the air.

That shade could set the stage for yet another showdown between Trump and his once favorite media buddies at the Murdoch-ruled Fox.

“I can’t believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on FoxNews/Business,” Trump, a frequent Bartiromo guest, posted Thursday night, about 12 hours after Fox announced “effective today” that the Mornings With Maria host was out. “Three different shows, always number one. Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior. Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy. God bless you, Maria!”

Bartiromo hadn’t been on the air for almost a month, with Deadline confirming that Fox brass had enough of the MAGA-friendly Bartiromo after they learned she passed corporate-guidance missives to the White House in recent months. However, carving her own way at Fox Business and Fox News for more than a decade, those communications were just the latest minefield that Fox execs feared could blow up in everyone’s faces.

“Her indiscretion was just the latest in a series of self-inflicted wounds,” a cable news insider says of Bartiromo and her close ties with Trump. “This has been a concern for a while, Maria being too cozy with the White House. She crossed a line, and she’s suffered the consequences.”

Weary of addressing allegations of similar conduct over the years by Sean Hannity and other Fox hosts, or Bartiromo’s contract specifics, the source added: “She’s no longer with Fox. Take that for what it is.”

Deadline hears that while there may be “technical truth” to Freedman’s remarks today that Bartiromo still works at Fox because of contracts and other paperwork, she is not returning to her Fox Business or Fox News roles — full stop.

Long a passionate defender of POTUS and offering him a platform over the years, Bartiromo’s apparent sharing of internal edicts with Trump administration officials, first reported by Status, made her pink-slipping inevitable.

Digging a little deeper and a few years back, the seeds of Bartiromo’s downfall were evident if you connect the red string.

In April 2023, Fox agreed to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, one of the technology firms singled out in Fox’s coverage of the 2020 election results. Citied in volumes of court filings and the high-stakes trial that had just begun when Fox settled, Bartiromo was one of the main hosts on Fox promoting the false claims of irregularities with the election Trump lost and Joe Biden won. At the time, the top-rated Tucker Carlson was pulled off the air at Fox in a move that resulted in a Freedman-handled legal dust-up between Carlson and the media company.

No word from ex-Apprentice host Trump if Bartiromo is in the running to be the new White House Press Secretary, but sharp-elbowed lawyer Freedman says his client actually isn’t looking for a new job because she still has her old one.

“For many years, Maria Bartiromo hosted three number one rated television shows on Fox channels,” Freedman said Friday, as my colleague Dade Hayes noted earlier. “She has been, without question, one of the hardest working journalists throughout her award winning career.”

The lawyer for the likes of Carlson and Megyn Kelly, as well as Don Lemon, then unsheathed the knife that may lead to a bloody affair down the line.

“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,” Freedman said. “Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses and they will come out whether through the courthouse or otherwise. Those reporting her firing or the incredulous facts supporting that fiction have exhibited a complete and utter reckless disregard for the truth.”

When Deadline asked Fox for a response to Freedman’s statement about his client’s employment situation, the company said: “the release speaks for itself.” The White House did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment.

Lonnie Bunch, who has led the Smithsonian as its secretary for the past seven years, said that he will step down at the end of the year.

His departure comes amid repeated criticism from the Trump administration over how the institution depicts and describes historical events and figures.

In an interview with The New York Times, Bunch said that the pressure from the administration did not lead to his departure, but it “was really just saying, now’s the time.”

In a statement, Bunch said, “There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together. I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”

The Smithsonian has enjoyed a long history of independence from the executive branch. It was created by Congress and is overseen by a Board of Regents chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts.

In a statement, Roberts said, “From his days as a young curator at the National Air and Space and American History Museums through his tenure as the founding director of the African American History and Culture Museum and culminating in his distinguished service for the past seven years in the Smithsonian’s top job, Secretary Bunch has pursued excellence in the telling of our nation’s story. The Regents, and the Smithsonian, have benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision and leadership.”

In July, the Trump administration released a report on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History that claimed it was captured by “radical, activist ideology.” That included criticisms of its Entertainment Nation wing. A number of historians’ associations pushed back, with the Organization of American Historians calling the report “part of a broad attempt to return the nation to a vision of America that never actually existed and that serves the ends of superficial patriotism.” Many historians blasted the report as cherry picking instances in a complex that features a central display of the Star Spangled Banner, Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and a wing devoted to the United States’ industrial might.

Even though Congress appropriates funding for the Smithsonian, last month, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum threatened to withhold support from executive agencies and departments, claiming that the “radical ideology” had the effect of weakening “our shared American identity.”

Last year, Trump attempted to fire Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian asserted its independence, although she later resigned. Artist Amy Sherald withdrew a planned exhibition of her works, telling the Times that she had been informed that internal concerns were raised over a work, Trans Forming Liberty, that featured a trans woman standing in a similar pose to the Statue of Liberty.

As it heads into its 29th season this month, South Park announced a change of its name — to South America.

The announcement is a troll of Donald Trump and his drive to rename buildings, bodies of water and even a state.

Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone also got in a dig at Paramount, the parent company of Comedy Central and Paramount+, where the new season will premiere next week.

Parker and Stone said in a statement: “Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA.  We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation.”

Trump’s announcement last month that he would rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, amid a trade war with Canada. That was followed by Apple and Google’s falling in line, and agreeing to change the name in their map apps.

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Over the weekend, the show won an Emmy for animated program, and it followed up with another spoof of the president and his craving of kudos.

The Comedy Central season premiere will be at 10 p.m. ET on Sept. 16, followed by streaming availability the next day on Paramount+.

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FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that the agency may issue guidance on broadcasters’ reporting on political polls, after President Donald Trump called for action on data he has deemed as “fake.”

In an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Briefing, Carr said that “there’s a lot of interest right now in big polls that are out there, and so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they’re done to suppress people heading into the fall.”

Last month, Trump lashed out on coverage of poll results, which have been sagging in the 30s as Republicans seek to retain control of Congress.

On Aug. 30, Trump posted on Truth Social, “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT”

With less than two months until the midterm elections, the airwaves likely will be filled with polling. There have been concerns raised about bogus polls, including the revelation that a recent poll of the Los Angeles mayoral race. Trump, though, has often dismissed the data as “fake” even from reputable pollsters, some of whom have been off at times, when the results are not favorable to him. He sued Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over a pre-election poll in 2024 that showed Kamala Harris with a lead in Iowa. As it turned out, Trump handily won the state.

Also on Aug. 30, Trump went after Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, who in an appearance on WRC-TV in Washington said that the president has “had some mixed results” when it comes to his endorsement record. While Trump’s endorsements have helped figures like Darline Graham, who won the nomination to succeeded her brother Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate, some of the president’s other picks have lost. They include Mike Lindell, who lost the GOP primary for Minnesota governor to Lisa Demuth, and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who lost in his reelection bid to primary challenger Charlie Hatcher.

Even though what Welker said was accurate, Trump vowed to report Welker to the FCC “for rebuke or punishment.”

In the Fox News Sunday Briefing interview, Carr did not directly address Welker, but didn’t dismiss the idea of the FCC trying to take action on her comments either.

Carr said, “The one thing that President Trump gets fundamentally is that broadcast TV is completely different than other forms of distribution, including cable. And so many broadcasters right now, they want to break the deal that they cut with the American people. They get billions of dollars in taxpayer effectively subsidized distribution. And what they’re supposed to do in exchange is operate in the public interest, not some sort of narrow partisan interest. I think President Trump is over the target, and we’re looking at a lot of actions.”

Carr has previously invoked the FCC’s broadcast distortion policy, which subjects broadcasters to enforcement “if it can be proven that they have deliberately distorted a factual news report.” The agency also advises on its website that it authority to take action “is narrow.” “The agency is prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press.”

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, said in an X post on Tuesday, “News coverage of a poll that doesn’t favor a political party is not a license to meddle in an election through intimidation. Broadcasters should take note. Do not let a sad and desperate attempt to punish accurate reporting become an excuse for censorship.”

She added, “Polls can be wrong. That’s no surprise to anyone who has followed politics over the last decade. The FCC faces a very high bar to prove news distortion, and it requires clear evidence of an intentional effort to mislead the public. Without it, this is all political theater.”

This post was corrected to reflect that Brendan Carr’s comments were during an interview on Fox News Sunday Briefing, not Fox News Sunday.