Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty
Fox News national security correspondentJennifer Griffinis just doing her job, she says — and in recent on-air appearances on her network, that has included repeatedly pushing back on some colleagues when she sees a need to set the record straight aboutRussia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is not the liberal democracy, the shining example that everyone says it is,” MacGregor said, speaking about Ukraine. “I think we need to stay out of it. The American people think we should stay out of it, the Europeans think we should stay out of it. And we should stop shipping weapons and encouraging Ukrainians to die in what is a hopeless endeavor.”
MacGregor was asked if “stay out of it” meant skipping economic sanctions, declining to provide military aid and allowing “Russia to take the portion of Ukraine they want to take.”
“Yes, absolutely,” MacGregor replied.
Griffin felt compelled to respond.
“The kind of appeasement talk that Col. Doug MacGregor, who should know better, because when he was in government he was the one who was advising Trump to pull all U.S. troops out of Germany,” she said in a segment that followed MacGregor’s. “That projection of withdraw and weakness is what made Putin think he could move into a sovereign country like Ukraine.”
“I’m not just a Washington reporter who is covering the Pentagon, I also had years of field experience and many of the sources that I dealt with are still the same people we’re dealing with in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, the Middle East,” Griffintold PEOPLE last year. “To have this front-row seat and get a swipe at the first draft of history, it’s what gets me up in the morning.”
In the days since Russian PresidentVladimir Putinlaunched hisinvasion of Ukrainelast week, sparkinginternational backlashand biting sanctions, Griffin has sought to stick to facts on a network that alternates news programming and conservative opinion throughout its broadcast day.
Courtesy Jennifer Griffin
WhenThe Faulkner Focushost Harris Faulkner criticized PresidentJoe BidenThursday for not doing enough to avoid the crisis in Europe, Griffin stepped in again toshare her more nuanced insight.
“Since early October we saw this coming, and we’ve had general after general tell us that sanctions were not going to work,” Faulkner said. “I’m just wondering why that was still the only strategy deployed.”
“Harris, I need to follow up on that,” Griffin interjected. After some back and forth, she continued: “If you had put those NATO troops into position before Putin crossed into Ukraine, you would have given him a pretext to go into Ukraine. This has been very calibrated because of the concern that Putin was looking for a pretext to go in … There were very limited options at this late stage.”
On Saturday, Griffin appeared on the air after retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc was on the network advocating for more military presence
“This is not a time for pause right now,” Bolduc said,according toTheWashington Post. “We need to get in there, and we need to help them on the ground. … But we’re just sitting back and we’re not doing anything.”
Bolduc clarified that he was calling for “indirect fire” rather than “boots on the ground,” adding that the U.S. should offer “great technical help on the ground.”
Justin Fishel/FOX News Channel via Getty Images.
Once again,Griffin said, “I have to respond to something your previous guest, Brig. Gen. Bolduc, said.”
“He really was way off the mark in terms of talking about what the U.S. could do on the ground,” she continued. “Putin has nuclear weapons. That is why the U.S. military and NATO do not have troops on the ground inside Ukraine.”
She added that the U.S. has helped train Ukraine’s forces in recent years, making them a “tough, group of fighters” who “do not need Americans to fight for them because that would then cause this to spread.”
Wrapping up the segment, Griffin pointed out where she believed the general had gaps in his reasoning in calling for more military support for Ukraine from the U.S. and its allies.
“Clearly, Brig. Gen. Bolduc is not a student of history; he’s a politician, he ran for Senate in New Hampshire and failed. He’s not a military strategist, and to suggest that the U.S. would put indirect fire or special operations or CIA on the ground to give Putin any sort of excuse to broaden this conflict is extremely dangerous talk at a time like this,” she said. “The nuclear weapon issue is something to watch and it’s going to be very important in the coming days.”
During another weekend appearance on Fox News’MediaBuzz, Griffin was asked about her role at the network after aWashington Postmedia reporterwrote about her habit of fact-checkingothers.
“My role is no different than it’s been since I joined Fox in 1996 in Moscow: I cover the news. I’ve been part of the news division since those beginning days. I’m here to fact-check facts because I report on facts,“Griffin said. “And my job is to try and figure out the truth as best as I know it. I share those facts internally, so that our network can be more accurate. That’s what I’ve always done. There’s nothing different than what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years working for Fox.”
Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues after the country invaded on Thursday, with forces moving from the north, south and east.
“You don’t know where to go, where to run, who you have to call,” Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine,told PEOPLE recentlyof the moment her city was bombed.
“This is just panic,” she said.
In addition to condemnation and sanctions, various countries have pledged aid or military support to Ukraine, whose president,Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called for peace talks while urging his country to resist.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine,” President Biden said as the invasion began in force in February.
source: people.com
