On Friday, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View were “pissed off” that Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis may have jeopardized the case against former President Trump over allegations she had an unethical sexual relationship with the special counsel she assigned to prosecute the case. And despite doing her best to downplay Willis’s refusal to deny the allegations and defend her hiring practices, even staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin had to admit the allegations could be true (at least under her breath).
“I don't think the allegations are going to compromise the case against him,” Hostin proclaimed near the top of the segment. She boasted about the resolve the prosecutor’s office had to pursue their case against Trump: “So, even if she resigns and even if he resigns there’s just going to be two perhaps even better prosecutors to take their place. So, that's not the issue.”
But when asked why Trump was calling for her resignation, Hostin accidentally dropped the skeptical language and admitted Willis had slept with Special Counsel Nathan Wade, before catching herself and trying to walk it back in a panic while waving her hand in front of her to deny the claims (pictured above):
HOSTIN: Well, I think the issue is, there is an appearance of inappropriate if you are sleeping as the district attorney – if you are, allegedly!
BEHAR: She doesn't admit to that.
HOSTIN: She’s not admitting to that! If you are sleeping with your special counsel that you appointed to a job and that person makes money doing that. Right? So, that's a problem.
Hostin bizarrely went on to help distance Willis by arguing that she had asked two more qualified lawyers (who she personally knew) to prosecute the case before settling on Wade, who “doesn't have that much experience prosecuting RICO cases and prosecuting this kind of case.”
Co-host and frequent Hostin-fact-checker Sara Haines immediately found the flaw in Hostin’s argument in terms of her next-man-up boasting vs Willis settling on Wade. “If prosecutors are like roaches, you can't end at three asks! So, if you’re saying they asked two really qualified and one who's never taken on this level and it might be the career of her lifetime, keep asking because there's more there,” she said.
“There may be a reason why,” Hostin mumbled under her breath, possibly hinting at the allegations being true.
The most “pissed off” by Willis’s alleged actions were the Never Trump Republicans Ana Navarro and Alyssa Farah Griffin, who wanted to ignore using the skeptical language and talk about it as fact; much to Hostin’s chagrin (Click “expand”):
NAVARRO: Look, if you are sleeping with a prosecutor and paying him $650,000.
HOSTIN: If, if, allegedly.
NAVARRO: If? Okay, if. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, green, purple, brown, it is wrong –
HOSTIN: Yes.
NAVARRO: -- and it is unethical and I think it's against the rules of professional regulation.
Farah Griffin was “pissed off about this” because one of her “best friends, Cassidy Hutchinson spent months in Atlanta protected by U.S. Marshals to testify for this case. And now it may all fall apart because these allegations of impropriety.”
“I'm very pissed off too,” Navarro announced, “because when you are a woman of color in such a high-profile position, you know that the scrutiny that is going to befall you is greater than on anybody else. And she needed to have kept her house clean.”
Hostin repeatedly tried to defend Willis, calling them just “allegations” and read a “legal note” about Willis neither confirming nor denying them, along with Wade not saying anything. Haines argued that if she really was innocent, then Willis would be out there denying it.
Moderator Joy Behar concluded the segment by whining about Trump’s legal team exposing Willis’s alleged misconduct. “You know, this is the Trump playbook: postpone everything. Postpone the border. Postpone the economy. Postpone everything. And postpone this case,” she exclaimed.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
January 26, 2024
11:17:48 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: So, could these allegations compromise the case against him? Is stepping down the best move here?
SUNNY HOSTIN: I don't think the allegations are going to compromise the case against him.
BEHAR: Against Trump.
HOSTIN: He is clearly a criminal in my view. And prosecutors – We used to say prosecutors were like roaches. Like, you get rid of two and like ten more show up. So, even if she resigns and even if he resigns there’s just going to be two perhaps even better prosecutors to take their place. So, that's not the issue.
BEHAR: So, why does Trump keep saying she should resign?
HOSTIN: Well, I think the issue is, there is an appearance of inappropriate if you are sleeping as the district attorney – if you are, allegedly.
BEHAR: She doesn't admit to that.
HOSTIN: She’s not admitting to that. If you are sleeping with your special counsel that you appointed to a job and that person makes money doing that. Right? So, that's a problem.
But the other thing we need to remember is this is probably one of the strongest cases against Trump, and she asked two other much more qualified lawyers to take it on and they did not want to. I would not want to take this job on. You know what it's like to cross Trump. You get death threats. Your family gets death threats. What lawyer wants to do that?
She went – actually to a lawyer that I know who is a former federal prosecutor, his name is Gabe -- what's his last name? [Checks her notes] Gabe Banks. He’s turned it down. She went to Roy Barnes who was a former governor of Georgia, one of the state's premier lawyers, who I know. He turned it down. And then she settled on this other guy. He doesn't have that much experience prosecuting RICO cases and prosecuting this kind of case. This is the best she got.
ANA NAVARRO: Look, if you are sleeping with a prosecutor and paying him $650,000.
HOSTIN: If, if, allegedly.
NAVARRO: If? Okay, if. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, green, purple, brown, it is wrong –
HOSTIN: Yes.
NAVARRO: -- and it is unethical and I think it's against the rules of professional regulation.
HOSTIN: It is.
NAVARRO: -- of the legal – And it does affect the case. There's many cases that have fallen apart because an attorney is sleeping with a client or people in the prosecutor's office are having phone sex with a witness. I mean, I'm not making it up. Go look at Griselda. You know, the one that’s on Netflix. She like killed everybody and the second case against her fell apart because two employees at the prosecutor's office were having phone sex with a witness.
HOSTIN: With a witness, yes. But this is different.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: At a minimum this is going to delay the case.
HOSTIN: That’s true.
FARAH GRIFFIN: And it very likely will until after election day. The Trump folks and -- they do have the right to, to try to use every delay tactic in the book.
And I just personally am pissed off about this. This is the case of her lifetime. It’s a sweeping RICO case. It’s a tough one. I think she actually has what she needs to prove the case. One of my best friends, Cassidy Hutchinson spent months in Atlanta protected by U.S. Marshals to testify for this case.
BEHAR: She’s a brave girl.
FARAH GRIFFIN: And now it may all fall apart because these allegations of impropriety.
BEHAR: But according to Sunny, it’s not going to fall apart.
FARAH GRIFFIN: No, but it could be delayed till after the election.
[Crosstalk]
HOSTIN: The case is not going away, but I do agree it could be delayed because they would have to get new prosecutors.
SARA HAINES: If prosecutors are like roaches you can't end at three asks! So, if you’re saying they asked two really qualified and one who's never taken on this level and it might be the career of her lifetime, keep asking because there's more there.
HOSTIN: There may be a reason why.
NAVARRO: I'm very pissed off too because when you are a woman of color in such a high-profile position, you know that the scrutiny that is going to befall you is greater than on anybody else.
HOSTIN: Your stuff cannot stink.
NAVARRO: And she needed to have kept her house clean.
HOSTIN: I will say there are still allegations but I feel that way.
BEHAR: You have a legal note, Sunny.
[Crosstalk]
HAINES: Real quickly. If there's nothing going on, because she has not confirmed or denied, which is another criticism she's getting. If someone was making a false accusation you come out and say, “this is wrong. You don't understand.”
FARAH GRIFFIN: There's a big paper trail is the problem.
HAINES: Because that’s delaying a big part of this. Until they reassign this case she has a stop on it. And she knows better.
NAVARRO: I agree with you. You don't go to a black church. You have a press conference and you deny it if you’re not doing it.
HOSTIN: But they’re still allegations. And that's why I have a legal note. District Attorney Fani Willis has neither confirmed nor denied a relationship with Nathan Wade and has denied claims she acted improperly in hiring him. Wade has not responded to the allegations.
BEHAR: You know, this is the Trump playbook: postpone everything. Postpone the border. Postpone the economy. Postpone everything. And postpone this case. He figures, “Oh, maybe I'll be in office and won't have to go to jail.” That is his whole M.O. We'll be right back.
