Former Trump Adviser Steve Cortes Reportedly Leaving Newsmax After Vaccine Mandate Row

Steve Cortes is reportedly leaving Newsmax after a public spat with the network over its vaccine policy.

Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser and longtime cable news pundit who joined Newsmax earlier this year to co-host a prime time show, will host his last episode for the network at some point in the coming days, according to a report from the Daily Beast.

“Tensions between Cortes and the MAGA cable network had long been simmering,” the Beast reported Friday.

Those tensions apparently came to a head in the wake of the network implementing a vaccine requirement in compliance with Biden administration regulations for big businesses.

Mediaite first reported earlier this month that Newsmax informed staffers that all employees must be fully vaccinated by January 2022, or else face weekly Covid testing and wear a mask in the office.

The announcement sparked tensions within Newsmax, as many of the network’s biggest stars had denounced vaccine mandates — including Cortes, who called them an example of “dictatorial rule” under President Joe Biden.

Cortes even took his issues with the Newsmax mandate public.

“I will not comply w/ any organization’s attempt to enforce Biden’s capricious & unscientific Medical Apartheid mandate,” he wrote in a tweet hours after Mediaite’s report.

“I will not be forced into the injection, nor will I disclose my vaccination status,” he wrote. “No one should be pressured to choose between medical privacy & their job.”

The Beast reported that while the row over vaccine rules “may have been the final straw,” there were ongoing disagreements between Cortes and Newsmax, including over his insistence the 2020 election was stolen, a claim that has invited serious legal trouble for the network.

In a statement to Mediaite, Newsmax denied that Cortes left the network over the vaccine disagreement.

“Any claims that Mr. Cortes was fired or quit Newsmax over vaccine issues is completely false,” the network stated. “Newsmax never has had, nor does it ever plan to have, a vaccine mandate and we have taken every step to make sure staff can easily opt-out of Biden’s proposed OSHA requirements.”

Cortes declined to comment when reached by Mediaite.

This story has been updated with a statement from Newsmax.