Fox News aired a feel-good story about a glassblower who created a glass presidential seal he wanted to give to Donald Trump as a gift. In the story, which quickly went viral, John Garofalo claimed to be a Vietnam veteran, one of the original Navy SEALs and a Purple Heart recipient. All of it was untrue. From the Navy Times:
“The Vietnam War veteran served seven years as a member of the nation’s first Navy SEAL team,” Fox News reporter Bryan Llenas said. “He was awarded 22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts.”
Llenas later called the 72-year-old New York State resident a “tough, tough man.”
“He was listed twice during his service in Vietnam as missing in action,” Llenas noted at the segment’s close.
It would be a great story, except that he completely fabricated his service record and was never a member of the Navy SEALs. One of the retired SEALs who exposed him said he was upset Fox News left the video up for 11 full days before retracting the story:
“Fox News not withdrawing that story has drove me nutty,” said Don Shipley, a retired SEAL who outs bogus military service claims and was the first to obtain official records disputing Garofalo’s story.
Shipley said he contacted Navy Times after Fox News failed to retract the bogus piece.
Shipley provided copies of Garofalo’s official military records and Navy Times confirmed the records’ authenticity with the National Personnel Records Center and Naval Special Warfare Command.
Shipley said he approached Fox about retracting the story the day after it ran.
Shipley finally got his wish after the Washington Post and other outlets began picking up the story. Fox News finally issued the following correction. See the original bogus story below.