Sunny Hostin blew up at guest host Alyssa Farah Griffin during Thursday’s broadcast of “The View” on ABC, saying that it she didn’t think Griffin should defend the “despicable” Republican response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Hostin falsely claimed that Republicans had been “united” in their opposition to President Joe Biden sending fighter jets to Ukraine – many, like Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) have been vocal in calling for Biden to allow the transfer of MiGs offered by Poland. Hostin then accused them of “posturing” in order to blame the clearly worsening situation on President Joe Biden.
WATCH:
GOP LEADERS CRITICIZE BIDEN FOR UKRAINE DELAYS: After Pres. Biden called Putin a "war criminal" as Russian forces intensify their assault, @WhoopiGoldberg, @ananavarro, @sunny, and @Alyssafarah weigh in on the criticism Biden is getting from Republicans. https://t.co/cVclFZyKV0 pic.twitter.com/ou7QtpwSvP
— The View (@TheView) March 17, 2022
Whoopi Goldberg began the segment with a montage of Republican figures complaining about President Biden’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his continued hostilities against Ukraine. Most pointed to the fact that Biden had been slow to implement sanctions, waiting until after Putin had started targeting civilians in Ukraine.
“I mean, I’m sorry. Where were all these Republicans when the former guy in office was holding money hostage saying, we’re not going to give you the money until you give me the information about Beau Biden — wait, not Beau,” Goldberg began, quickly correcting to say that she had meant Hunter Biden.
“I don’t remember them being concerned at all that there was an issue, particularly when the President of Ukraine said, ‘Listen. We need this. We need to be able to defend ourselves,'” Goldberg continued. “Where the hell were y’all? I don’t remember you giving a good blessed —”
“Whoopi. Whoopi, let me tell you where I was. I was at the United States Department of Defense, and we were working around the clock to get this aid released to Ukraine, to get security assistance released,” Griffin replied.
“Why was he holding it up?” Goldberg pressed, and Griffin said that while that question had been answered during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, she thought the current situation might give people pause.
“I think a lot of folks are looking back on the first impeachment saying, hey, I should have voted differently,” she said.
“I want to be abundantly clear though, Donald Trump is not president anymore and we have a humanitarian crisis —” Griffin continued, but Goldberg cut her off.
“That doesn’t — I’m sorry. You cannot stand up and say, ‘he’s — hey this guy’s not doing his job.’ He’s doing what he’s supposed to do,” Goldberg said.
Griffin pointed out that thousands of Ukrainians were dying, prompting Goldberg to fire back, “I understand all that. What I take offense at is the fact these people are suddenly all concerned now about what’s happening.”
Hostin jumped in then, arguing that a number of Republicans had voted against the latest aid package going to Ukraine. “This is a lot of posturing by the Republican Party, and I think it’s despicable, and I think it’s disgusting, and I don’t think you should defend it,” she said.
“Well, and I will say this. There’s — I’ll say this. There’s been a long-standing tradition in American politics when we’re in times of war that we really don’t attack the commander in chief,” Griffin replied. “We should give policy criticisms, which is what I’m doing to Joe Biden, but I stand by Joe Biden who is the president and I hope gets us through this conflict, but I would call on him in the strongest terms, get MiGs to the Ukrainians. Get them military aircraft so they can defend their skies.”
“Congress seems to be pretty united,” Hostin said, noting that there was bipartisan support for Biden’s decision not to assist in enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine — but then she went on to argue that Republicans were also “united” their opposition to providing military aircraft, despite the fact that many have called for Biden to do just that.
WATCH:
"The American people stand strongly with the people of Ukraine…The Ukrainian people need those MiGs, and they need them now they needed them yesterday." – @RepStefanik pic.twitter.com/lnkV85QE1V
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) March 16, 2022