Fox News' Jennifer Griffin stands by confirming story Trump insulted US troops: 'My sources are unimpeachable'
Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin on Saturday, September 6, stood by her confirmation of claims that President Donald Trump disparaged US soldiers wounded and killed in wars. The network's chief national security correspondent also insisted that her sources were "unimpeachable." Her statement came hours after President Trump called for Fox News to fire Griffin post her confirmation of the Atlantic article, which claimed that the president had called US soldiers "losers" and "suckers."
Griffin, on Saturday afternoon, phoned Neil Cavuto’s show and defended herself against criticism from Trump and his supporters, which included some people from her own network. Cavuto, while addressing Griffin on air on Saturday, said: "Jennifer I’m not sure if you are aware, but the president has been tweeting about you saying that ‘Jennifer Griffin should be fired for this kind of reporting. Never even called us for a comment. FOX News is gone.' What do you think?"
The correspondent replied to the question with: "Well, first of all, I was in constant contact. John Roberts was working his story at the White House and I was working my sources. We teamed up as you saw at the top of Bret Baier’s show and our reports were straight down the middle as always. You know, Neil, Deep Throat was an unnamed source. It didn’t make what he said untrue. My sources are not anonymous to me and I doubt they are anonymous the president."
The explosive report in the Atlantic, which was published on Thursday, September 3, claimed that Trump canceled a trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 after referring to deceased soldiers as "losers." The report added that the president was also worried about getting his hair wet in the rain. "Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers," the president allegedly told his senior staff members in 2018 on the morning of the visit. Trump, according to the outlet, also called over 1,800 marines who were killed at Belleau Wood, a World War I battle between German and American troops, "suckers."
Trump, in a tweet, accused Griffin of not confirming "the most salacious part" of The Atlantic's report in her Fox News story about him calling war veterans "losers." Griffin, however, claimed that she did confirm that Trump had called Army veterans "suckers," and had not wanted wounded soldiers included in his military parade because "it was not a good look." The correspondent added that she had also confirmed that the president skipped visiting the graves of American soldiers because he didn't want the rain to ruin his hair. Other outlets that confirmed the Atlantic's reports included the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
Griffin, in response to Trump's call for her removal from Fox News over her story, stood by her reporting and said: "My sources are unimpeachable. I feel very confident with what we have reported at Fox. Not every line of the Atlantic article did I confirm, but I would say that most of the descriptions and the quotes in that Atlantic article I did find people who were able to confirm and so you know I feel very confident in my reporting."
"What they are saying they feel very strongly is accurate. They were there and I’m a reporter and it is my job to report what I heard," the correspondent added.