Of all the ways that Fox has undermined Jennifer Griffin’s reporting on how Trump has shockingly smeared U.S. troops as “suckers” and “losers,” the worst may be the network’s cowardly silence after Donald Trump attacked her and called for her to be fired.
This morning, Griffin doubled down on her reporting that confirmed key parts of the bombshell from The Atlantic a few nights ago. Calling her sources “unimpeachable,” she said she “circled back” to one source this morning “and he firmly said this was not a one-off.”
She had more to say this morning:
GRIFFIN: According to my source, [Trump] used “suckers” – and that term – repeatedly to describe [John] McCain and anyone who went to Vietnam.
He always described, according to this source, Vietnam vets as “those who couldn’t get out of it” and he would often say to his advisers when they suggested that he would go to visit the war dead, “What is it about you guys and guys who get killed?”
So he used “losers.” That’s a big part of the president’s vernacular. I think anyone who’s been around him knows that.
I’ve noted how Fox has repeatedly undermined Griffin by casting doubt on her reporting. Trump didn’t waste any time attacking her either. “Jennifer Griffin should be fired for this kind of reporting. Never even called us for comment. @FoxNews is gone!” he tweeted yesterday.
Today, The Washington Post reported that while Griffin took veiled shots from some of her colleagues, especially Mollie Hemingway and Greg Gutfeld, “Trump’s attack on Griffin was a bridge too far for her colleagues, seven of whom took to Twitter over the weekend to defend her.” There were tweets praising her as “a great reporter and a total class act” (Special Report anchor Bret Baier), “the kind of reporter we all strive to be like” (national correspondent Bryan Llenas), etc.
Then this:
Although Griffin’s reporter, producer and anchor colleagues defended her from criticism, Fox News Channel has not yet commented on Trump’s attack, in line with how the network has handled broadsides from the president throughout his administration.
In other words, faced with a choice between standing up for its own reporting, and its own correspondent, or showing solidarity with Dear Leader Trump, Fox chose Trump.
You can watch Griffin’s comments from the September 5, 2020 Cavuto Live, below. It’s worth pointing out again that FoxNews.com called this very-damning-to-Trump interview, “Sources say they never heard Trump call war dead 'losers' or 'suckers'; other details remain in dispute.”
(Griffin image via screen grab)
I really don’t think they’re fooling anyone, but you never know.
The saddest part of this has been Glenn Greenwald jumping up and down to condemn the reporting on the story. Greenwald has his own axe to grind regarding Russian hijinks in the 2016 election, as his version of the story is a mirror of the Right Wing “hoax” variety. So when he heard that CNN, AP and even Griffin have “confirmed” this story, he immediately penned a vicious broadside at The Intercept, saying that nothing’s been confirmed but showing that he hasn’t read any of the coverage. In other words, Greenwald is commenting on a story of which he doesn’t know the contents. Had he taken 90 seconds to listen to Griffin’s comments here, he would have heard specifics that blow apart his entire premise.
