Griffin told POLITICO that her tweet contradicting Trump on promises to the Kurds was based on a conversation with someone extremely senior that took place the previous night and has been part of whats been a wild two weeks reporting on the Syria withdrawal. I am able to fact-check because I am constantly gathering information, she said.

While Trump enjoys unwavering support at Fox News from several opinion hosts and supportive guests, a daily cheering section that serves as media firewall in the face of impeachment, the presidents claims about withdrawing troops, and thereby allowing Turkey to launch an offensive in northern Syria, have come under near-constant scrutiny from Griffin, a veteran national security correspondent at the network.

Griffins critical reporting in recent weeks has not only found a home on several daytime Fox News programs, albeit not in prime time, but has been cited by competitors like MSNBCs Willie Geist and CNNs Christiane Amanpour. Members of U.S. special forces, Amanpour told Defense Secretary Mark Esper, are telling even Fox News thats an ally of president Trumpthat they feel ashamed.

A Republican critic of the Syria withdrawal, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, referenced Griffins reporting on CNN, while conservative writers like Peggy Noonan, Peter Wehner, and Jonah Goldberg have done so in pieces opposing the decision. Goldberg noted that Griffins reporting is coming from Fox News, which is not normally a target of Trumps fake news broadsides.

Im pleased at the fact that other networks are paying attention to what Fox News is doing, but the way I feel is, weve been doing this for years, Griffin said in an interview with POLITICO. She said Fox News reporters keep our nose to the grindstone and keep out of politics.

That can be difficult as Trump, a faithful Fox News viewer, has blasted journalists who have challenged his claims, such as veteran anchor Shepard Smith, who abruptly left the network earlier this month amid tensions with the pro-Trump opinion side.

I certainly was very saddened to see that Shepard was leaving us, said Griffin, who considers the former Fox News anchor a close friend from their more than two decades at the network. But, she said, Were not doing anything differently since he left.

Griffins work on the Syria story began a few days before Smith exited Fox News. She and husband Greg Myre, an NPR national security correspondent, returned to the U.S. from an anniversary trip in Morocco on Oct. 6 to find Trump announcing plans to withdraw troops in Syria.

This came as a surprise to everyone not just reporters, but members of the national security establishment, Griffin said. Much of the Pentagon was caught off guard. The State Department was caught off guard.

Griffin, who had spent years reporting from the Middle East before starting on the Pentagon beat in 2007, began contacting sources, and said she and colleague Lucas Tomlinson started piecing together what the reality was, because there was a lot of confusion and misinformation.

On the afternoon of Oct. 7, Griffin reported on Fox News how U.S. officials and allies were blindsided by Trumps decision. Two days later, she reported how Trump went off script during his call with Erdogan, whom he was expected to tell to stay north of the Syrian border.

That same day, Griffin tweeted thoughts from a distraught U.S. Special Forces soldier who fought alongside the Kurds and said he was ashamed for the first time in my career. The string of tweets went viral, drawing more than 400,000 likes and retweets and surely contributed to Griffin adding at least 20,000 Twitter followers this month.

In another widely shared tweet, Griffin last week accused Trump of pushing a Turkish talking point that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is a greater threat than ISIS. On Sunday, she posted several tweets from a call with Kurdish general Mazloum Kobani Abdi, a key U.S. partner in the fight against ISIS, who accused accused Turkey of ignoring a cease fire and continuing its ethnic cleansing in northern Syria.

The next night, Griffin interviewed former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen at the University of Chicago, and was back at the Pentagon on Tuesday, reporting on Turkey and Russias deal to jointly patrol along the safe zone at the Syria border.

Griffin also appeared this week on a Fox News Radio show with Brian Kilmeade, a co-host on Trump favorite Fox & Friends, who has expressed criticism of the Syria move. Yet Griffin has not appeared in recent weeks on any Fox News opinion shows, which she said isnt unusual as her TV appearances typically occur between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Theyre in the opinion-making business, Griffin said of the primetime line-up. And theyre having guests on who can commentate on the news reports that weve put out during the day. Thats usually how they structure their shows. But theres no hard and fast rule that I cant appear on there.

Griffin acknowledged that some people who dont know her might make certain assumptions because of her employer, though she believes that most view me as an individual.

That assessment jibes with those of her colleagues in the Pentagon press corps.

As far as the Pentagon press corps goes, shes one of us, said Jeff Schogol, a Pentagon reporter at Task & Purpose. Its not that Jennifers the Pentagon Fox reporter, shes a Pentagon reporter. So of course, standards of accuracy and fairness are the same for her as anyone else.

Kevin Baron, executive editor of Defense One, called Griffin a pro's pro and one of the best reporters I've seen my decade on the Pentagon beat.

Her reputation as a hard-hitting, straight-talking journalist is known by her peers and respected worldwide throughout the military from generals to grunts, said Baron. Never seen her pull a punch. Would be shocked if she ever did.

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Meet the Fox reporter who is bedeviling Trump on Syria - POLITICO