Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin, 51, has become Donald Trump‘s latest target in the press, after he called for her to be fired. It comes amid a report in The Atlantic that claimed the president called veterans who were killed in the war “suckers” and “losers”. The network unsurprisingly spent much of its coverage on September 4 dismissing the claims, and even alleged the report was falsified, however Jennifer, who is the network’s national security correspondent told a different story. She took to Twitter later in the day, claiming that two former Trump administration officials verified his disparaging comments to her.
She tweeted, “According to one former senior Trump administration official: ‘When the President spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, ‘It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker,'” she began, adding that her source described one of Trump’s “character flaws”, saying, “He could not understand why someone would die for their country.” Here are 5 things to know about Jennifer.
1. Trump’s alleged comments were made in 2018. The president reportedly made the disparaging comments belittling the nation’s veterans during a visit to Paris in 2018. The visit marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and Jennifer revealed that one of her sources told her the president was in a bad mood and asked why he had to visit two different cemeteries during the trip. She also tweeted that her sources confirmed Trump said it was “not a good look” to include the “wounded guys” in a July 4 military parade. Her sources also confirmed the claims that Trump “just hated” Sen. John McCain.
2. He called for her to be fired. In response to her lengthy Twitter thread, the president tweeted out a link to a Breitbart story, the famously far-right news outlet. He added, “Jennifer Griffin should be fired for this kind of reporting. Never even called us for comment. @FoxNews is gone!”
3. Jennifer is a Harvard graduate. The Fox News reporter has an impressive academic background. She graduated from Ivy League school, Harvard University, in 1992. She earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative politics, per her Fox bio page.
4. She previously covered apartheid in South Africa. Jennifer reported for a newspaper in South Africa earlier in her career, where she reported on Nelson Mandela‘s release from jail and other historical events in South Africa as the country moved away from apartheid.
5. Jennifer is a breast cancer survivor. She joined Fox in the year 1999 but had to take a brief hiatus in 2009 after she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. She received treatment, and returned to the air the following year.