Fox News guest is yanked off air as she slurs her words after drinking champagne during military parade
A former intelligence official was quickly taken off air after she appeared to slur her words during a Fox News interview on Donald Trump 's military parade.
Rebekah Koffler, who previously worked as a Russian Doctrine and Strategy specialist in the US Defense Intelligence Agency, appeared as a guest during the network's marathon coverage of the event Saturday night.
She joined the show shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET, but her interview appeared to be cut short leading to some internet speculation that she was intoxicated. She posted earlier in the day that she was slipping on champagne to celebrate.
Fox hosts Lawrence Jones and Emily Compagno brought in Koffler after speaking with correspondent Lucas Tomlinson.
'I am so excited, Emily, and Lucas Tomlinson, everybody. Like, this is incredible. Finally the United States is, uh, is back,' Koffler said.
'I want really thank all of our Army, Navy, and Air Force officers who have been sacrificing their lives, literally. 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 wanna thank these officers for all of these sacrifices and all of the hardships that their families have endured.
'Lawrence Jones, you are doing– you're your [unintelligible], man! You guys and [unintelligible] Lucas! I wanna thank,' she said before getting cut off by Compagno.
Koffler told DailyMail.com the interview ended abruptly because of connection issues and producers told her they had lost the audio during the segment.
She posted earlier in the evening promoting her interview saying, 'Go Army! Join me at 8:00 PM New York City time on @FoxNews for the special coverage of #Army250 #ArmyBirthday #GoArmy #MilitaryParade with @EmilyCompagno @LawrenceBJones3.'
Koffler said her interview had been getting delayed since 7:45 p.m. and she unexpectedly had to do the hit remotely.
However, a Fox News source told DailyMail.com there was no connection issues during the segment.
Clips of the interview went viral, with many commenters pointing to a since-deleted tweet Koffler posted showing she had been drinking before the segment.
'Well @POTUS is apparently encroaching on my airtime! My hit is moved to 8:20 - 8:30 pm depending on how long #Trump takes,' she said. 'I'm honored. Refilling my #champagne glass while waiting for my hit!'
One person said, 'Sounds like she's been celebrating for 250 years. Who thought it would be OK to put her on tv?'
'That is hard to watch. You should put a sensitive warning on that video. It is the very definition of cringe,' said another.
Others defended Koffler, noting that she was born in Russia and English may not be her first language.
'That is how Rebecca speaks... English is not her first language,' one person said.
'She took a little too much in celebratory mood - who are we to judge her? Focus on the success of the Military Parade. American Pride on display,' said a second.
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