Fox News Axes Highly Rated Show by Pro-Trump Host Lou Dobbs

Fox News has canceled ''Lou Dobbs Tonight,'' the program hosted by one of the media's most steadfast supporters of President Donald Trump and the president's claims of voter fraud, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. 

Dobbs' program, which has been airing twice nightly at 5 and 7 p.m. ET on the Fox Business Network, will be replaced next week with ''Fox Business Tonight,'' with rotating substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman, who filled in for Dobbs on Friday. This, according to a Fox rep who confirmed the news to the Times.

Dobbs, 75, remains under contract at Fox News, the newspaper said, but his future on the conservative news network is murky. 

The cancellation comes a day after a large voting software company, Smartmatic, filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News and three of its hosts — Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. The company said the hosts helped to spread lies about Smartmatic's role in the presidential election, to the detriment of its reputation and its business.

Fox News has been in turmoil as long-time viewers have abandoned the channel since Election Day. President Donald Trump has attributed his election loss to Joe Biden to unfair coverage by Fox News as well as massive voter fraud.

Dobbs was signed to Fox News by its former chief executive Roger Ailes in 2011. As the Times noted, he has long been the company's most outspoken supporter of Trump's economic and immigration policies. In the weeks after the election, the paper said, he went on the air to express anger that the Republican Party did not do more to act on claims that the election was rigged in favor of Biden.

The firing of Dobbs will add weight to critics' claims the network has gone soft backing conservative views.

Fox has also been reeling as its ratings have been in a tailspin as the network has dropped to third place behind CNN and MSNBC.

Newsmax appears to be the main beneficiary as its viewership has soared. Newsmax is now the 4th highest-rated cable news channel in the U.S.

Fox, in response, demoted long-time evening host Martha MacCallum to a day-time slot as Newsmax's ''Greg Kelly Reports'' has surged.