Fox News is facing mounting criticism after repeatedly using old footage instead of airing Donald Trump’s real conduct at Saturday’s dignified transfer—but it apparently hasn’t stopped them from trying to keep his actions off-screen.
The president, 79, sparked bipartisan backlash after he attended the dignified transfer of six U.S. service members killed in his war with Iran on Saturday while wearing a version of the $55 cap available for purchase on the president’s merchandise website.
After being called out for using old footage, Sunday’s Fox News Live instead opted to show video where Trump cannot be seen.
Trump’s favorite network was first caught airing clips of a dignified transfer from December 2025 and presenting them as footage from the March 7 event on at least two different programs on Saturday and Sunday—a move critics said was meant to flatter the president.
Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Griff Jenkins was forced to address the move on Sunday morning, telling viewers it was a “mistake” that led them to “inadvertently air video from an older dignified transfer instead of the ceremony that took place yesterday.”
When stand-in Fox News Live host Mike Emanuel addressed the transfer on the show, which airs after Fox & Friends Weekend, service members can be seen carrying one coffin off an aircraft, but the section of the video—shared by the White House on Saturday to its social media accounts—that shows Trump saluting while wearing the gold-embroidered “USA” hat is cut out.
Critics say the network has merely shifted tactics—now airing footage of Saturday’s solemn event that avoids showing Trump.
“Fox’s dignified transfer footage now just completely excludes Trump,” Acyn Torabi, an editor with MeidasTouch, wrote on X. In the shared clip, Fox News cut away from footage showing the solemn event before Trump could be seen saluting with the hat on.
Many remained unconvinced by the network’s explanation of the old footage.
“Fox News is lying for the president,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office shared on X.
“This wasn’t a ‘mistake’ Griff Jenkins,” an account titled “Bad Fox Graphics,” which initially spotted the old videos being used, wrote on X. “The main story out of Dover AFB yesterday was Trump’s undignified donning of a campaign baseball cap during the dignified transfer ceremony. @FoxNews was surely aware of this when they deliberately chose to air B-roll footage from December.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast, a spokesperson for the outlet said, “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.”
Trump’s close relationship with the network is also well documented. During his first term, the president appointed several former Fox contributors to high-ranking roles, including John Bolton. His second term has seen him lean even more heavily on the network’s personalities, tapping several on-air figures for administration posts—including Cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Sean Duffy.
The six service members transferred, all part of the 103rd Sustainment Command, were killed by an Iranian strike in Kuwait on Sunday, March 1. They 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.
Following their deaths on March 1, Trump said, “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.”
Last week, he doubled down in a statement to Time Magazine: “…You know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”
