Fox says Bartiromo is out. Her lawyer says she’s STILL employed. Now what?

BS BULLETIN:

Fox News Media announced Thursday that Maria Bartiromo was “no longer with” the company, effective immediately.
Bartiromo’s attorney now says reports that she was fired or is no longer a Fox employee are “absolutely and unequivocally false” — and says he has “receipts and witnesses.”
Asked to explain the apparent contradiction, Fox pointed back to its original announcement and said the statement “speaks for itself.”

Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt exit from Fox just got a whole lot stranger.

One day after Fox News Media announced that the longtime anchor was “no longer with FOX News Media,” Bartiromo’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, came roaring back with a very different version of events. “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 Friday.

Then came the warning. “Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses,” Freedman said, adding that they will come out “whether through the courthouse or otherwise.”

Fox isn’t backing away from its announcement.

When Entertainment Weekly asked the company to respond to Freedman’s assertion that Bartiromo remains employed, a Fox representative pointed back to Thursday’s announcement and said the original statement “speaks for itself.”

And that statement certainly sounded final.

Fox News Media said Bartiromo’s departure was effective immediately, thanked her for more than 12 years with the company and wished her well in her “next chapter.” Her television shows are already being remade without her: “Mornings with Maria” became “Mornings with FOX Business,” “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” was renamed “FBN’s Wall Street,” and Jason Chaffetz is slated to guest-host Sunday’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

But there may be an important distinction buried in the language.

Fox’s announcement specifically said Bartiromo was no longer with Fox News Media. PEOPLE reported Freedman’s position as Bartiromo remaining employed by Fox Corp. Neither side has publicly explained whether that corporate distinction accounts for the seemingly contradictory statements.

Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding why Bartiromo was removed from her programs hasn’t gone away.

Status and Puck reported that Bartiromo shared confidential internal Fox guidance concerning coverage of President Donald Trump with White House officials. The Washington Post has not independently corroborated those allegations, although a person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Bartiromo’s departure was Fox’s decision. Fox previously described the move as a “business decision.”

Freedman’s statement did not specifically address the allegation that Bartiromo passed internal communications to the White House. President Trump, meanwhile, made his feelings clear after Fox’s original announcement, praising Bartiromo as a “total professional” and “true warrior” and predicting that her many fans would not be happy about her departure.

So this story is no longer simply about why Maria Bartiromo left Fox News. It’s about what “left” actually means.

Fox News Media says she’s gone. Her lawyer says she’s still a Fox employee and promises receipts. And when Fox was given an opportunity to clear up the discrepancy, its response was essentially: Read our statement.

That leaves one very big question hanging over this increasingly bizarre media divorce: What exactly happened to Maria Bartiromo?

MY QUICK TAKE

Now this is getting good.

Fox says its statement speaks for itself. Maria’s lawyer says he’s got receipts and witnesses. And somewhere between “no longer with Fox News Media” and “still an employee of Fox” sits what must be one heck of a story.

If the receipts really are coming, somebody might want to clear some space on the table.