Fox News was skewered for using old footage instead of airing Trump’s real conduct at Saturday’s dignified transfer.
On Sunday, after Fox News aired clips from a dignified transfer from December 2025 and presented them as being from the day prior, Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Griff Jenkins was forced to address the move.
Airing the old footage—which also happened on the network on a different program the day before—happened after immediate bipartisan rage over Trump’s decision to wear a baseball cap to the solemn event on Saturday.
“We want to acknowledge a mistake made earlier on our program,” Jenkins, 55, said. “During our coverage of yesterday’s dignified transfer, we inadvertently aired video from an older dignified transfer instead of the ceremony that took place yesterday.”
“We deeply regret the error, and extend our respect and condolences to the service members’ families. We honor the sacrifice of those six American heroes,” Jenkins continued, before listing the fallen service members.
Fox News also aired the older, hat-free footage of Trump the day prior at 5:10 p.m. on Saturday, shortly after the transfer occurred, when other stations were airing footage from the day. As The Big Weekend Show host Tomi Lahren said that there was no way to discuss the dignified transfer without “extreme sorrow and heartbreak,” footage of Trump from last year played.
The ceremony held at Dover AFB on Saturday saw the return of six U.S. soldiers killed in Kuwait as a result of Trump’s war with Iran, and was attended by Donald and Melania, alongside JD and Usha Vance.
Those service members were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20; Major Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of the 103rd Sustainment Command.
On Fox & Friends Weekend, co-hosts Rachel Campos-Duffy and Charles Hurt sat while Jenkins briefly described the event, with footage showing Trump wearing a black overcoat, black leather gloves, and a burgundy tie. The footage was labeled “Dover AFB, Saturday” on the chyron.
The studio was quickly called out for misrepresenting the transfer, with their chosen footage actually coming from a dignified transfer held on December 17, 2025, for two US National Guard members and a US civilian killed in Syria. The X account Bad Fox Graphics is credited with flagging the video swap first.
In actuality, Trump wore a blue suit and bright red tie on Saturday, and broke etiquette by wearing a white-and-gold “USA” baseball cap—available to purchase for $55 from his own profit-based MAGA merch line.
The president was branded a “disgusting little man” by California Gov. Gavin Newsom for wearing the cap to honor the fallen soldiers, all of whom were killed by an Iranian strike in Kuwait on Sunday, March 1.
Unfortunately, Trump’s lax attitude toward military etiquette seems to mirror his wider thoughts about the loss of life of U.S. soldiers.
When Trump first revealed—without Congressional approval—that he had launched “major combat operations” in Iran, he also suggested that he expected U.S. service members to fall.
In his initial 4:00 a.m. Truth Social video last week, Trump ventured that the “lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.” The MAGA leader added: “That often happens in war.”
Trump’s messaging seemed unchanged after the death of the six soldiers, telling Time Magazine later in the week: “…You know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast, a spokesperson for the outlet said that “FOX News Media programs inadvertently aired file footage from a previous dignified transfer while discussing yesterday’s ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. The archival footage was mistakenly used during the video sourcing process. We regret the error and apologize for the incorrect footage.”
