On Thursday morning, news broke that the second batch of classified documents President Biden took when he was vice president was found in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware home, next to his Corvette. And conspiracy theories flew around the set of ABC’s The View as the co-hosts whine about how these documents just appeared, with some apparent suggestions that Republicans were “behind” them getting into the garage and the President’s former office at the Penn Biden Center.
As they were whining about how the discovery of these documents could hurt the case against former President Trump, co-host Joy Behar shouted about how they appeared to apparate out of thin air. “You know what I think? I’ve never seen a luckier person than Donald Trump Just as we're this close to getting him, somehow these documents appear!” she bitterly declared.
While the rest of the cast was in a bit of a panic and getting flustered by the development, co-host Whoopi Goldberg wanted them to calm down. “Let's find out what this is first. Again, one of the things that gets me crazy is before we know, it's already been spun a specific way,” she complained.
Goldberg was puzzled by how these documents could be missing for six years without anyone noticing and had some questions, which drew the “Republicans are behind it” conspiracy theory from racist Sunny Hostin:
GOLDBERG: I want to see someone explain to me, "A," how it's possible that after all this time, nobody knew? Because to me, if you are missing classified information, I don't mean to laugh, but in my house, if stuff is missing, I know it's missing.
HOSTIN: Does it feel like oppo-research to you? Does it feel like the Republicans are behind it?
“It did originally,” Goldberg responded, before adding that she’s not sure now, “because one of the things [Biden is] saying is that, you know, some of these -- some of the locations where the docs may have been shipped in the transition may have gotten taken and put.”
For this crackpot theory to be true, Republicans needed to hire Nicolas Cage to break into the National Archives undetected during a time when the spotlight has never been brighter on the archives, then break into Biden’s Secret Service-guarded home undetected to plant the documents. [Cue the Mission: Impossible theme music!]
This isn’t the first tin foil hat conspiracy theory The View has cooked out about supposed clandestine Republican operations. Back in 2006, Behar suggested that the GOP gave South Dakota Democratic Senator Tim Johnson a stroke as part of a plot to deadlock the Senate. “Is there such a thing as a man-made stroke? In other words, did someone do this to him?” she wondered at the time.
But according to co-host Sara Haines, on Thursday, it was Biden’s critics who lacked brain cells if they compared it to Trump. “Anyone with any amount of brain cells knows these are not completely equivalent purely because the volume, the obstruction, the refusal. They had to storm the golden castle [Mar-a-Lago] to get it,” she opined.
This unhinged conspiracy theory was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Febreze and OxiClean. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about what they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
January 12, 2023
11:16:12 a.m. Eastern(…)
SARA HAINES: It is being investigated. Because the AG appointed John Lausch, a Trump appointee to find out how the classified material ended up in Biden’s home and former office. So, when they keep calling for this, they're creating this optic that it's not being looked into. And that is being looked into.
I do see the difference in the sense that when you look at a character like former President Trump and then you look at President Biden, anyone with any amount of brain cells knows these are not completely equivalent purely because the volume, the obstruction, the refusal. They had to storm the golden castle to get it.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: The golden castle?
JOY BEHAR: Mar-a-Lago.
HAINES: Yes.
(…)
11:19:01 a.m. Eastern
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Donald Trump’s whole argument in his defense hinges on: “former presidents have mishandled classified documents and as a former president, I have the right to declassify documents.” Now, I disagree with both of those, but Joe Biden is building his defense for him. I hate to say it. This is much harder to argue –
BEHAR: You know what I think? I’ve never seen a luckier person than Donald Trump Just as we're this close to getting him, somehow these documents appear!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Here’s the thing, Biden is wrong to have done this. He was in office before –
SUNNY HOSTIN: He is wrong.
GOLDBERG: Let's find out what this is first. Again, one of the things that --
HOSTIN: That's true.
GOLDBERG: -- gets me crazy is before we know, it's already been spun a specific way.
HAINES: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: I don't want to see that. I want to see someone explain to me, "A," how it's possible that after all this time, nobody knew? Because to me, if you are missing classified information, I don't mean to laugh, but in my house, if stuff is missing, I know it's missing.
HOSTIN: Does it feel like oppo-research to you? Does it feel like the Republicans are behind it?
GOLDBERG: It did originally –
[crosstalk]
GOLDBERG: I’m sorry. But not now because one of the things he's saying is that, you know, some of these -- some of the locations where the docs may have been shipped in the transition may have gotten taken and put.
(…)
