Former colleagues Kellyanne Conway and Alyssa Farah Griffin clashed in spectacular fashion on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The View.”
Both women worked in former President Donald Trump’s White House — Conway as Trump’s campaign manager in 2016 and then as senior advisor, and Griffin as a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence before transitioning to the Pentagon — and when they came together for the ABC midday talk show, sparks flew.
Griffin began the segment with a comment about Trump’s re-election campaign, saying that she had heard several people say that if Conway had run his 2020 campaign, he might have won.
She then pivoted and mentioned the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, asking Conway how she could still support Trump after everything that had happened.
"That's not fair!" "That's such a cheap shot!" Kellyanne Conway and Alyssa Farah Griffin clash on #TheView. pic.twitter.com/22qdaYmTnj
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) May 24, 2022
“I broke with the president ahead of January 6th when the big lie started being shared. I spoke out about January 6th when I saw a violent mob assault the Capitol,” Griffin began.
“Is there a question in here?” Conway asked.
“How do you still defend him, do you still think he could be a good president after he tried to overturn our democracy?” Griffin asked.
“I left three months before you did, for my children, I have four of them, I said less drama more mama,” Conway pointed out. “That’s exactly what I did. You stayed a whole month after the election that you have a problem with.”
“I wanted to help my junior staff get jobs,” Griffin objected.
“That’s good and I think people should know that, because I haven’t seen you since you’ve changed,” Conway pressed. “But I want to say this to you —”
“I didn’t change,” Griffin interrupted. “Just to be clear, I didn’t change. I swore an oath to the Constitution —”
“You get to talk here every day. I’m here as a guest,” Conway shot back.
“I didn’t change. I swore an oath to the Constitution not to Donald Trump,” Griffin repeated.
“As we all did,” Conway replied, as the audience applauded and cheered, noting that
Conway went on to argue that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had been part of the problem, arguing that he did not “match the moment for a global pandemic, a re-election campaign.”
“Neither did Donald Trump,” Griffin interrupted, complaining that Conway had not answered her question.
“I was on ABC live on January 6th. With George Stephanopoulos. And I said, people have to get out of the Capitol, what are you doing there? Why have you breached the Capitol?” Conway pushed back.
“But you’re still supporting Donald Trump now,” Griffin objected.
“Alyssa, if you’re saying that somehow you think we’re supposed to think that you’ve seen the light and not just seen your name in lights, that’s not fair,” Conway said, appearing to suggest that Griffin had turned on Trump when it was advantageous to do so.
“That’s such a cheap shot,” Griffin replied. “You’re not answering the question.”
Griffin argued that Conway had not denounced a possible second term for Trump, and the two began talking over each other again — prompting co-host Whoopi Goldberg to interrupt and threaten to end the segment if they couldn’t dial it back.