US President Donald Trump on Friday defended high-profile TV presenter Maria Bartiromo, one of his staunchest supporters on the US airwaves, after she was abruptly sacked by Fox News.

According to media reports, Bartiromo was fired for passing internal Fox communications on to the White House about false claims made by Trump about the 2020 election.

"Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior. Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy," Trump posted.

Trump incorrectly claims to have won the 2020 presidential election, in which he was defeated by Joe Biden.

His allegations are sensitive at Fox, which settled two expensive defamation lawsuits after wrongly accusing voting machine companies of being used to rig the election.

Bartiromo has promoted Trump's false claims that his defeat was due to fraud and election irregularities, and her conduct was at centre of the lawsuits.

The New York Times said Bartiromo shared with the White House a Fox text that warned its journalists to stay away from the president's baseless claims. (AFP)



Edited by Robert Kemp