Ahead of her appearance on the live broadcast, guest Rebekah Koffler posted that she was “refilling my #champagne glass”
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NEED TO KNOW
Rebekah Koffler joined Fox News’ special military parade broadcast on June 14 while seemingly inebriated, and the co-hosts abruptly cut her interview off after a minute and a half
Koffler, a former defense intelligence agency officer, later claimed there were audio issues during the broadcast, which a Fox News source denies
Ahead of the interview, Koffler posted about drinking champagne, which she later said was a “joke, intended to boost viewership”
A Fox News segment is garnering attention online for its abrupt and awkward end after a guest appeared visibly inebriated during the live interview.
On Saturday, June 14, President Donald Trump held his pricey birthday military parade in Washington, D.C., and during Fox News’ live coverage, co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Emily Compagno invited Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, to give her reaction.
When Koffler joined the special broadcast just after 9:30 p.m. local time, Compagno asked her to comment on the “symbolism” and “messaging” of the parade, which also celebrated the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. Koffler began by appearing to incorrectly identify host Jones as another member of Fox News’ staff.
“I’m so excited, Emily and Lucas Tomlinson,” she began, her speech slurred. “Everybody, like, this is incredible! Finally, the United States is back! I want to really thank all of our army, navy and air force officers who have been sacrificing their lives, literally.”
Koffler, still slurring her speech, continued: “Their families have been contributing to the mission, most of the time for the past quarter of a century because of the mismanagement of the, uh, the administrative state, they’ve been fighting these foreign wars, but with our new Commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump, they are prioritizing America first.”
“And I want to thank these officers for all of these sacrifices and all of the hardships that their families have endured,” she went on.
Both Jones and Compagno then made separate attempts to interject, seemingly trying to cut Koffler off.
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Rebekah Koffler in 2022.Jason Davis/Getty Images
Instead, Koffler continued, this time correctly identifying Jones to tell him, “Lawrence Jones, you are doing … you’re rocking man!”
She then attempted to say a few more words, but the co-hosts cut her off entirely. The duo both thanked Koffler for her time before concluding the interview, which ended up being around a minute and a half long.
Neither Compagno nor Jones acknowledged the abrupt end or the guest’s behavior.
The day after the incident, the former defense intelligence agency officer addressed the appearance, and online reactions tied to it after the segment went viral, in an X post.
Claiming that “allegations against me related to my @FoxNews appearance #TrumpParade are FALSE,” Koffler said the “TRUTH” is that “audio, video during #MilitaryParade were corrupted due to intermittent, slow internet connection.”
A Fox News source, however, denied this, telling PEOPLE there “was no connection or audio issues with her hit.”
In the same June 15 statement, Koffler also addressed a since-deleted X post she made before the broadcast — a photo of a bottle of wine, alongside which she included the caption, “Refilling my #champagne glass.”
“Yes, I did post #champagne photo — this was a joke, intended to boost viewership,” she wrote.
Koffler is a freelance editorial writer, author and a strategic military intelligence analyst who formerly worked for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, according to her Fox News bio.