Lawyers at ABC weren’t taking any chances on Tuesday following a series of slanderous statements made by co-hosts on “The View” about Matt Gaetz and the sexual misconduct allegations he faces.
Sunny Hostin, the most far-left of the liberal bunch, read a “legal note” that producers handed her to be read on-air explaining that Gaetz was cleared of wrongdoing by the Biden Justice Department. Sitting stone-faced, Hostin looked directly into the camera and read off a screen, an insurance policy the lawyers likely implemented to help guarantee she didn’t color the disclaimer with her own commentary. “Matt Gaetz has long denied all allegations, calling the claims ‘invented’ and saying in a statement to ABC News that ‘this false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.’ The DOJ investigation was closed with no charges being brought.” Whoopi Goldberg then quickly took the show to commercial break.
The embarrassing moment encapsulated struggles by “The View” to retain its audience during a drastic fall-off following the election. Executives at ABC have reportedly ordered the show’s producers to begin a nationwide search for more “pro-Trump voices” to incorporate into the far-left program after concluding that the five women were badly out of touch with the American mainstream. President-elect Donald Trump has long been a foil used to rile up their viewers, especially in recent days. Goldberg publicly pledged to never utter his name again while Hostin blamed white women for not forcefully backing Vice President Kamala Harris.
The show’s latest attempt to introduce a conservative contrarian was Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former communications staffer in the Trump administration. She has largely hewed to the center, offering milquetoast rebuttals to her four co-hosts while declining to embrace the president she publicly broke with following the January 6th, 2021 riots at the Capitol. Griffin was virtually silent during a segment on Monday’s show when Hostin called out the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” for meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. “Look, the bottom line is that America needs a free press that is willing to speak truth to power, right now, more than ever,” Hostin said. “I think that we have to be very clear-eyed when we think about the President-elect and cover the President-elect. And I don’t think you need to sit down for 90 minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth and to be able to cover a story.
