Fox News ‘Accidentally’ Airs Capless Donald Trump After He Wore One at a Dignified Transfer
The United States lost six military service personnel in Kuwait due to a drone strike. During the dignified transfer, President Donald Trump controversially wore a white baseball cap, which he didn’t take off. Fox News reported on the dignified transfer but uploaded a different video instead—one wherein Trump was not wearing the cap.
The video of the dignified transfer, dated March 8, featured Trump with a baseball cap. Even during the salute, he did not take the cap off. It is customary to remove headgear when saluting a fallen soldier. Although there is no clear rule for the president to abide by the practice, there is a social expectation to do so.
But Fox News, in light of the controversy, decided to post a video of a dignified transfer by Trump from a year ago to reference the most recent one. The clip shown by Fox News happened on December 18, 2025, when Trump had to welcome home six veterans who fell in an ambush in Syria.
This video was used to replace the dignified transfer for March 8. In this clip, Trump was noticeably not in possession of any cap.
Trump saluting six deceased veterans with his cap on isn’t just a bad look. It’s distasteful for the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, who only has his salute and his cap off to give to the service members that lost their lives. The least he could do is follow through with the custom that has been practiced under etiquette by other civilian mourners. It’s not as if Trump’s USA cap were part of his uniform.
Fox News Admits Flawed Reporting
“We want to acknowledge a mistake made earlier on our program during a coverage of yesterday’s dignified transfer,” Griff Jenkins said during Fox & Friends.
“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 respectful condolences to the service members’ families,” Jenkins would list the names of the service members who perished in the war.
The veterans were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39; Spc. Declan J. Coady, 20; and Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45.
The reporting has been corrected. Fox News uploaded the dignified transfer that occurred on March 8 on their YouTube channel.
Making mistakes in reporting is deeply human, but for it to happen at a time when Trump has done something unpalatable on tape is suspicious. Social media users were up in arms against the network’s ‘mistake.’
Representative Ted Lieu from California accuses Fox News of intentionally showing the wrong footage because of Trump’s offensive gesture at the recent dignified ceremony. He levied the allegation on X.
“Why did Fox News find old footage and splice it into new footage to trick its viewers?” asked Lieu.
“Because Fox News knew that Trump was being undignified at the dignified transfer ceremony for six American heroes,” the Californian representative assumed.
Commentator and journalist Mehdi Hasan weighed in, calling Fox News a “state propaganda channel.” He believes that if this had been done by any other network, Fox would’ve led the charge of criticisms and faux outrage against the channel at fault.
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