Fox takes pro-Trump host Lou Dobbs off air after 10-year run

Fox host Lou Dobbs regularly trumpeted unfounded assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. Photo / AP

Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs Tonight, whose host has trumpeted unfounded assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 US election, has been cancelled.

In a statement today, Fox said the move was part of routine programming alterations that it had foreshadowed in an announcement last year.

Fox News "regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business — this is part of those planned changes", the company said.

Whether the cancellation ends Dobbs' career with Fox News wasn't addressed, and the company had no further comment. The former CNN host started his show at Fox in March 2011.

The statement appeared to distance the show's end from a multibillion-dollar defamation suit filed against Fox and three of its hosts, including Dobbs, by the election technology company Smartmatic.

In a previous statement, Fox News said it would "vigorously defend against this meritless lawsuit in court".

The replacement for Lou Dobbs Tonight will be announced soon, Fox News said. The show last aired on Friday, with a guest hosting sitting in for Dobbs, who had no immediate statement.

An interim show, Fox Business Tonight, will air with hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman.