Fox News reporter defends confirming Atlantic piece despite Trump backlash: ‘I feel very confident’

Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin doubled down on her reporting that confirmed key details of an article from The Atlantic that alleged that President Trump disparaged World War I veterans during a 2018 trip to France. 

“I can tell you that my sources are unimpeachable,” Griffin said on the air Saturday.  “I feel very confident with what we have reported at Fox.”

The Atlantic article published Thursday alleged that Trump referred to slain American soldiers buried at a French cemetery as “losers” and “suckers.” The administration has vehemently denied the claims, though Fox and other outlets were able to confirm key details. 

“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 I feel very confident in my reporting,” Griffin said. 

The president lashed out at Griffin in an earlier tweet after she initially reported that her sources confirmed details of the Atlantic report, calling for her to be fired from the network, which the president is known to be a fan of. 

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) came to Griffin’s defense on Saturday, calling her “one of my favorite reporters. Fair and unafraid.”

“It is always better when people come on camera, but you can see how people get destroyed when they get crosswise with the president when they come out, and so people are reluctant,” Griffin said Saturday. “They’ve seen the language used to describe people and the way Twitter has been weaponized against them, and I think they just don’t feel they need that kind of grief right now.

“What they are saying they feel very strongly is accurate,” she added. “They were there, and I’m a reporter, and it is my job to report what I heard.”

Griffin also reported that Trump was adamant flags not be lowered to half-staff when the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a fierce critic of Trump, died in 2018.

Trump has previously made comments disparaging McCain, who was prisoner of war in North Vietnam, saying he’s “not a war hero [because] he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Multiple sources told Griffin the president “hated John McCain” and didn’t want the flags to be lowered, leading to a standoff, she said.