RadioOnFire.com - A U.S. military veteran who became a popular trending figure among conservatives earlier this month has been exposed for exaggerating about his service. And Fox News has come under fire as well, as the right-wing news outlet reportedly chose to continue running the story even after being informed about the vet's lie.
John Garofalo, 72, came to the attention Fox viewers during an exclusive on his admiration for President Trump. Garofalo was presented as a Navy SEAL who went missing in action twice while fighting in the Vietnam War. The segment went on to credit him with "22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts." But among the millions who saw the segment, was retired SEAL Don Shipley, who did his homework on Garofalo and found that there were quite a few mistruths to his story.
Shipley says that he contacted Fox to notify them that he had a true record of Garofalo's service between 1963 and 1967, but was ignored. "You can turn this story around. I'll help you, but avoiding it won't help," Shipley wrote in a message to reporter Bryan Llenas. Once it became clear that Llenas had no intention of responding or following through, he contacted the Navy Times. The Times would then break the story to the greater military community, informing readers of how the Fox guest might have served in Spain, but never in war-time Vietnam.
Fox was forced to address the flub, seeing how a fair portion of their demographic is made up of military veterans, likely to have come across the story. By Friday morning, October 20, a clip of the segment had been removed from Facebook and corrections were made in print and on television.
Source: nydailynews.com
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