Fox News national correspondent confirms the Atlantic story
By 
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC Two former sr Trump admin officials confirm .@JeffreyGoldberg reporting that President Trump disparaged veterans and did not want to drive to honor American war dead at Aisne-Marne Cemetery outside Paris.2:08 PM · Sep 4, 2020·Twitter Web App4.8K Retweets2.1K Quote Tweets9.9K LikesJennifer
Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mReplying to @JenGriffinFNCAccording 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’.”981.2K2.8KJennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28m
This former official heard the President say about American veterans: “What’s in it for them? They don’t make any money.” Source: “It was a character flaw of the President. He could not understand why someone would die for their country, not worth it.”399282.5K
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mI read the source a few quotes from The Atlantic article. This former Trump admin official said, “The President would say things like that. He doesn’t know why people join the military. He would muse, ‘Why do they do it’?”966762.1K
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mRe: trip to mark 100th anniversary of WW I Source: “The President was not in a good mood. Macron had said something that made him mad about American reliability and the need perhaps for a European army. He questioned why he had to go to two cemeteries. ‘Why do I have to do two’?”307062K
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mPresident Trump’s staff explained he could cancel (his visit to the cemetery), but he was warned, ‘They (the press) are going to kill you for this’.” The President was mad as a hornet when they did.236682.3KJennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28m
When asked IF the President could have driven to the Aisne-Marne Cemetery, this former official said confidently: “The President drives a lot. The other world leaders drove to the cemeteries. He just didn’t want to go.”439272.6K
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mRegarding Trump’s July 4th military parade, during a planning session at the White House after seeing the Bastille Day parade in 2017, the President said regarding the inclusion of “wounded guys” “that’s not a good look” “Americans don’t like that,” source confirms.431.1K2.8K
Jennifer Griffin@JenGriffinFNC·28mRegarding McCain, “The President just hated John McCain. He always asked, ‘Why do you see him as a hero?” Two sources confirmed the President did not want flags lowered but others in the White House ordered them at half mast. There was a stand off and then the President relented.
(Note that Fox News’s website isn’t actually posting Griffin’s reporting yet, so this could get awkward.)
Of course there wasn’t the slightest doubt that The Atlantic story was accurate — it was heavily sourced and in any case these are exactly the sort of things Trump would say, because he’s said plenty of similar things in the past.
For Fox News to allow one of their top reporters to both confirm The Atlantic story in a follow-on is notable.
It could mean any of these things, or some combination of them:
The extent to which Fox News is a propaganda organ of the Republican party, as opposed to a legitimate news agency, is actually ambiguous, because there’s some sort of genuine conflict within the institution, at a high enough level to matter, between legitimate journalists and party apparatchiks.
Jennifer Griffin has enough leverage of some sort to force this story into print, despite the wishes of her corporate superiors.
The appearance of the story is part of some sort of internal power struggle among those superiors, and/or a conscious strategy on their part to distance the network somewhat from Trump as his political position appears to continue to deteriorate. (On this reading the struggle isn’t between legitimate journalists and Good Party Men, but rather a product of a schism among the latter group).
I’m not in the LOL nothing matter camp: I’m in the LOL nothing matters until suddenly it does camp. This is the kind of thing that could matter at the margin, given Fox’s considerable influence all across Wingnuttia.