Staffers for Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo reportedly were forbidden to talk to their boss in the weeks before she was fired, raising suspicion that “something was up” while “people were freaking out.”Fox News Media announced Bartiromo’s departure after 12 years in a terse note that wished her “all the best” on Thursday. Then outlets reported she had sent to the White House a screenshot of a confidential memo ordering senior employees not to report on President Donald Trump’s latest election conspiracy claims in July.Bartiromo had been absent from her three shows since Aug. 9. Staffers realized it was no vacation because normal communication channels were not allowed, a source told Mediaite.“In order to talk to her, you had to go to management,” the source said, so co-workers “knew something was up.”“They were instructed not to talk to her,” the source told the media outlet. “Even her own staff had to go through management. People were freaking out.”According to the source, Bartiromo had been seen in the Hamptons acting “almost like she was undercover.”HuffPost reached out to Fox News for comment.Maria Bartiromo reportedly got in hot water before her dismissal for leaking a staff memo that prohibited employees from reporting on an election conspiracy claim by President Donald Trump.Roy Rochlin via Getty Images