'Navy SEAL' Who Wanted To Gift Trump Glass Presidential Seal Lied About Service On Fox Segment

Fox News recently ran a segment featuring a man who claimed to be a Vietnam war veteran and a member of the first U.S. Navy SEAL team. The man, John Garofalo, is also a glass artist who created a presidential glass seal he wanted to gift to President Donald Trump but as it turns out Garofalo lied about his service record and never served in Vietnam.

Fox News issued a retraction online after The Navy Times reported that Garofalo, 72, was never a Navy SEAL, did not serve in Vietnam and had never been awarded two Purple Hearts, as he had claimed. The Navy Times checked into Garofalo's records and found that he did serve in the Navy in the 60s and did a tour in Spain.

"It got bigger and bigger," Garofalo told The Navy Times. "What I did I'm ashamed of, and I didn't mean to cause so much disgrace to the SEALs."

"Garofalo claimed he was a Vietnam veteran, a member of the first U.S. Navy SEAL team, and a decorated war hero who was awarded two Purple Hearts," Fox News wrote in its retraction. "Unfortunately, all of Garofalo's claims turned out to be untrue. The fact is that he did not serve in Vietnam. He was never a U.S. Navy SEAL. Even though he showed us medals, Garofalo was not awarded two Purple Hearts or any of the other nearly two dozen commendations he claimed to have received, except for the National Defense Service Medal."

On Friday, the reporter who covered the segment, Bryan Llenas, issued an on-air correction.

According to Fox, Garofalo is indeed a glass artist and has previously gifted presidential seals to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

The Navy Times noted that as of Thursday the segment was still up on Fox News' Facebook page and had some 1.5 million views on Facebook.

Don Shipley, a retired SEAL who outs bogus military claims, told The Navy Times he contacted the publication after Fox failed to retract the story. Shipley told The Navy Times he contacted Fox News about a retraction the day after the segment ran. Fox News ran the segment Oct. 8 and the retraction was issued Oct. 19.

>>>You can read the full Navy Times story here.

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