Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

riversedge

(70,049 posts)
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 07:22 PM Oct 2017

Pro-Trump War Hero Featured on Fox News Never Actually Served

Source: dailybeast


2 hours ago
Fox News/Screenshot

A military veteran glowingly featured by Fox News earlier this month for his pro-Trump artwork and his record as a “war hero” admitted Thursday to lying about his military service. John Garofalo, 72, was featured in a Bryan Llenas report as having served seven years as a Navy SEAL, receiving 22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts, and having been listed twice as missing in action during Vietnam. Garofalo, who personally carved a presidential seal to gift President Trump, is a “tough, tough man,” Llenas said, after calling him a “hero” during an interview. Fox News anchor Eric Shawn later remarked: “God bless John Garofalo. We certainly hope maybe the president is listening.” However, when the Navy Times reached out to Garofalo on Thursday, he confessed to having lied about his military service...............................

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-trump-war-hero-featured-on-fox-news-never-actually-served



Not cool!!




https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_731,w_1299,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1508448841/Screen_Shot_2017-10-19_at_5.33.06_PM_fwxzke






Your Navy
FAKER! Man admits he lied to Fox News about Navy SEAL service



https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/10/19/faker-man-admits-he-lied-to-fox-news-about-navy-seal-service/#.WejydQzeRjM.twitter
By: Geoff Ziezulewicz   4 hours ago

John Garofalo appeared in a viral Fox News segment this month, where he was portrayed as a SEAL who deployed to Vietnam. (Screenshot/Facebook)

Man admitted he lied to Fox News about serving as a SEAL and in Vietnam
▶ Play

Navy veteran John Garofalo appeared on a Fox News segment this month, showing off a massive presidential seal he carved for President Trump while receiving praise for his service in Vietnam as a SEAL.

The piece was broadcast nationally and featured cascading shots of all Garofalo’s medals. Online, it went viral, racking up 1.5 million Facebook views on Fox’s Facebook page.


“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.”
......................................

“He was listed twice during his service in Vietnam as missing in action,” Llenas noted at the segment’s close.

“God bless John Garofalo,” an anchor said. “We certainly hope maybe the president is listening.”

But when Navy Times contacted Garofalo Thursday, Garofalo admitted he had lied and never served in Vietnam, never received a Purple Heart and was never a SEAL...
.................................



36 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Pro-Trump War Hero Featured on Fox News Never Actually Served (Original Post) riversedge Oct 2017 OP
Yep. Pure Trumpista. fierywoman Oct 2017 #1
Faux News needs to hire some fact checkers tulipsandroses Oct 2017 #2
If they did that they would have no content. It would be vitamin tablet commercials The_Casual_Observer Oct 2017 #3
FOX does not want or care about facts.... They want short skirts keithbvadu2 Oct 2017 #7
LMAO HopeAgain Oct 2017 #8
Oh, that's just a typo Lithos Oct 2017 #18
Well, he never served in Vietnam caraher Oct 2017 #4
I don't think it is possible ... Drifter Oct 2017 #5
What you wear on your uniform is different from what you're awarded jmowreader Oct 2017 #26
Fox encourages lying and never fact checks. It is not news. Why Trump loves them. Peas in Fred Sanders Oct 2017 #6
LOL! Fact checking? FakeNoose Oct 2017 #35
Time for the Chump in Chief Oldtimeralso Oct 2017 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author TEB Oct 2017 #10
Fox News should be the Barbie and Ken Network,they are plastic yuiyoshida Oct 2017 #11
The very definition of FAKE NEWS. /nt bitterross Oct 2017 #12
Fox seems Rebl2 Oct 2017 #13
As long as the lie not fooled Oct 2017 #14
Why. Do. People. Do This? mahatmakanejeeves Oct 2017 #15
Its also illegal ... aggiesal Oct 2017 #28
Supreme Court found that to be unconstitutional waddirum Oct 2017 #31
Well, he lied about something that could be easily disputed. TNNurse Oct 2017 #16
Fox News and Trump are just a TV show. FuzzyRabbit Oct 2017 #17
Don Shipley is the scourge of "Navy SEAL" impostors. DinahMoeHum Oct 2017 #19
I despise "stolen valor" types like this. 7962 Oct 2017 #20
How awful n/t hibbing Oct 2017 #21
Isn't it a federal crime to do this?? Why hasn't this POS been picked up? Nay Oct 2017 #22
Scotus ruled that stolen valour falls under first amendment protection tymorial Oct 2017 #27
It is illegal ... aggiesal Oct 2017 #29
I stand corrected tymorial Oct 2017 #32
Only if done with the intent of obtaining some tangible benefit sl8 Oct 2017 #36
Now that's.... SergeStorms Oct 2017 #23
How VERY Unsurprising! Loyd Oct 2017 #24
To the deplorables he's still a HERO...... NoMoreRepugs Oct 2017 #25
And since Fux Nooze are shi&&y yellow journalists mdbl Oct 2017 #30
Where is James O'Keefe when you need him? Isn't this the sort of thing he likes to uncover? Tarheel_Dem Oct 2017 #33
Let's see Republicans "outrage" over this like taking to a knee.... Bengus81 Oct 2017 #34

caraher

(6,278 posts)
4. Well, he never served in Vietnam
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 07:36 PM
Oct 2017

But he is a Navy veteran:

Records show Garofalo did serve in the Navy from Sept. 6, 1963, to Sept. 6, 1967, as an aviation boatswain’s mate ― aircraft handling, or ABH, a job that involves overseeing various ground-based functions involving aircraft.


But not as a SEAL and yeah, the service record he presented is 99.9% bogus. Typical FOX/Trump BS. They love being lied to!

Drifter

(4,751 posts)
5. I don't think it is possible ...
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 07:39 PM
Oct 2017

to be awarded 2 Purple Hearts.

"A Purple Heart is awarded for the first wound suffered under conditions indicated above, but for each subsequent award an oak leaf cluster or 5/16 inch star is worn in lieu of another medal."

Cheers
Drifter

jmowreader

(50,528 posts)
26. What you wear on your uniform is different from what you're awarded
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 10:20 PM
Oct 2017

Your command has the option of presenting you with a new medal every time you earn one. (It makes award ceremonies a hell of a lot easier to conduct, anyway.) But when you set up your ribbon bar, you wear one ribbon for each kind of award you have and "devices" on the ribbons you've been awarded more than one of.

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
6. Fox encourages lying and never fact checks. It is not news. Why Trump loves them. Peas in
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 07:41 PM
Oct 2017

a pod.

Everyone know you need to lie to get any positive coverage so as to continue their brainwashing of the moron hordes.

Oldtimeralso

(1,935 posts)
9. Time for the Chump in Chief
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 07:50 PM
Oct 2017

to go to the air and twitter to denounce Fox News, just like he has done to CNN and NBC. NOPE he knows which side his bread is buttered on!

Response to riversedge (Original post)

not fooled

(5,801 posts)
14. As long as the lie
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 08:29 PM
Oct 2017

catapults the propaganda, mission accomplished (it's GWB day, I guess).

Studies have shown that the initial version of the story is what sticks, not subsequent corrections or retractions. So, faux just needs to get the phony info out there. Their dimwitted viewers are satisfied with what hits their eyeballs and fits their rigid worldview.

And obviously faux doesn't fact check.

Facts be damned.

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,283 posts)
15. Why. Do. People. Do This?
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 08:33 PM
Oct 2017

Surely by now everyone who has two neurons that rub together knows how easy it is to look up these claims.

SMH.

waddirum

(979 posts)
31. Supreme Court found that to be unconstitutional
Fri Oct 20, 2017, 06:13 AM
Oct 2017

Stolen Valor is free speech, even if it is offensive.

TNNurse

(6,924 posts)
16. Well, he lied about something that could be easily disputed.
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 08:38 PM
Oct 2017

But Trump gets away with it every damn day, so we should not be surprised.

FuzzyRabbit

(1,967 posts)
17. Fox News and Trump are just a TV show.
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 08:48 PM
Oct 2017

Reality doesn't matter, they are presenting a TV show. If they think something will look or sound good on TV, they present it as news.

Trump probably doesn't know the difference between reality and TV. To him, all previous presidents were just characters who appeared on TV from time to time. Now he gets to be the star in the TV show.

Remember last January when he was picking his cabinet. He rejected some people because they didn't look like he wanted his cabinet members to look. And he chose others because they looked the part. He was casting his cabinet, just like a producer might cast a TV show or movie.

So Fox presented a "war hero". It is just a coincidence that he was actually in the Navy. It wouldn't matter to Fox if he had served or not, just so long as they can tell a good story.

DinahMoeHum

(21,771 posts)
19. Don Shipley is the scourge of "Navy SEAL" impostors.
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 08:56 PM
Oct 2017

Last edited Fri Oct 20, 2017, 02:05 PM - Edit history (2)

http://www.extremesealexperience.com/Fake-Navy-Seal-Verification_Scourge-Of-Seal-Imposters-1

http://www.extremesealexperience.com/Fake-Navy-Seal-Verification_Scourge-Of-Seal-Imposters-2

If you can get over the fact that Shipley once worked for Blackwater (in Afghanistan and Pakistan) shortly after he retired from the Navy after 2003, he is well worth knowing if one wants to expose "Navy SEAL" poseurs.

tymorial

(3,433 posts)
27. Scotus ruled that stolen valour falls under first amendment protection
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 10:43 PM
Oct 2017

US vs Alvarez.

6/3. Scalia, Alito and Thomas dissented.

sl8

(13,656 posts)
36. Only if done with the intent of obtaining some tangible benefit
Sat Oct 21, 2017, 07:01 PM
Oct 2017
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013


...
The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (Pub.L. 113–12; H.R. 258) is a United States federal law that was passed by the 113th United States Congress. The law amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime for a person to fraudulently claim having received a valor award specified in the Act, with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit by convincing another that he or she received the award.

This law is a revised version of a previous one that was struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case United States v. Alvarez for being an infringement of the constitutional right to freedom of speech.
...

SergeStorms

(19,148 posts)
23. Now that's....
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 10:06 PM
Oct 2017

Trump's idea of a REAL war hero! None of this 'getting captured' stuff, none of this 'getting killed' stuff, lie about it! That's something Trump understands completely.

NoMoreRepugs

(9,366 posts)
25. To the deplorables he's still a HERO......
Thu Oct 19, 2017, 10:18 PM
Oct 2017

Cuz Faux News said he was - what other proof could u possibly need?





mdbl

(4,973 posts)
30. And since Fux Nooze are shi&&y yellow journalists
Fri Oct 20, 2017, 05:22 AM
Oct 2017

they of course didn't bother to verify their sources, as usual.

Bengus81

(6,927 posts)
34. Let's see Republicans "outrage" over this like taking to a knee....
Fri Oct 20, 2017, 07:32 PM
Oct 2017

Oh wait...he was making a big glass piece for Trump?? Good enough,he respects the flag.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Pro-Trump War Hero Featur...