Newsmax Enforcing Biden's Vaccine Mandate... Steve Cortes Refuses To Comply And Resigns
Published by Andrea Blanco for The Daily Mail
Former Trump campaign advisor Steve Cortes is reportedly leaving his role as prime-time host at Newmax after he refused to comply with the network's vaccine mandate and repeatedly criticized it on social media.
Cortes, who co-hosts Cortes & Pellegrino, a weeknight show with former White House correspondent for One America News Jenn Pellegrino, will be leaving the network in the upcoming days, The Daily Beast reported.
Cortes was hired just six months ago, but sources told the outlet that his relationship with the right-wing network had been largely strained by his relentless comments that the 2020 Presidential election was rigged, and Cortes & Pellegrino's floundering ratings. His refusal to take the vaccine was seemingly the last straw.
The veteran news pundit had voiced on social media his discontent with Newsmax's requirement of proof of vaccination, which followed President Joe Biden's executive order forcing companies with 100 or more employees to obtain proof of vaccination from their workers or subject them to weekly testing and masking.
Cortes, a Trump loyalist, appeared to confirm news that he was leaving Newsmax by tweeting 'Do not comply!' just hours after the Daily Beast article was published.
Cortes had taken to Twitter to share his pronounced anti-vaccine beliefs and disagreement with the mandate.
'I will not comply w / any organization's attempt to enforce Biden's capricious & unscientific Medical Apartheid mandate. I will not be forced into the injection, nor will I disclose my vaccination status. No one should be pressured to choose between medical privacy & their job,' he tweeted in early November, calling out Newsmax vaccine mandate, which requires employees to be fully vaccinated by January or submit to weekly testing.
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— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) November 27, 2021