Kimberly Guilfoyle didn’t take her usual spot on “The Five” Friday afternoon after it was reported that the longtime Fox News host would be parting ways with the network.
Not only did sources tell DailyMail.com that Guilfoyle was purposefully not given the chance to say goodbye to co-hosts and viewers Friday, but HuffPost also reported that her departure from the network was not “voluntary.”
“Fox News has parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.
Guilfoyle’s lawyer directly challenged the notion that she was “unceremoniously dumped” as Daily Mail reported.
“As FoxNews noted in statement earlier today, Ms. Guilfoyle and the network have agreed to part ways. That agreed-upon parting of ways has not yet been finalized, has been under discussion for an extended period of time, and is entirely mutual and amicable,” Thomas A. Clare wrote in an email to the Daily Caller, with an attachment showing that Guilfoyle’s Fox News email was still active as of 6:46 p.m. Friday.
Townhall editor and Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich filled in for Guilfoyle Friday.
Sources close to Guilfoyle told TheDC, “Fox has known for a while that she was planning on moving to the America First PAC and her leaving Fox is 100 percent voluntary. She is very excited about her new challenge and is appreciative that she had a great run with Fox News. Any assertion that she was pushed out of Fox is false.”
News broke on Friday that the 49-year-old Guilfoyle, who has been with Fox News since February 2006, was stepping down from her role on “The Five” to take a position with America First PAC. It wasn’t clear initially whether the move was merely a leave of absence from Fox News or intended to be permanent. (RELATED: Report: Kimberly Guilfoyle Is Leaving Fox News)
CNN’s Brian Stelter alluded to “ethical concerns” inside the network due to her relationship with the president’s son, but sources close to Guilfoyle and her boyfriend of four months, Donald Trump Jr., deny that her exit was not voluntary.
Sounds like this was not a totally amicable exit. Inside Fox, there were real ethical concerns re: Guilfoyle’s relationship with Don Jr. https://t.co/SlJ09pFqsd
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 20, 2018
Update: This article has been updated to include a statement from Guilfoyle’s lawyer and the headline has been updated to more accurately reflect the story.