With 2024 on the horizon, the Cackling Coven of ABC’s The View really wanted former President Trump out of the picture. So much so that co-host Sara Haines was flabbergasted on Thursday by the notion that he would get a fair trial and not have any potential jury pool poisoned by the Justice Department releasing information pre-trial. They also fantasized about what his imprisonment situation would be like with Joy Behar saying she would settle for him being exiled somewhere, anywhere.
Referencing an interview Trump Attorney General Bill Barr gave to CNN the previous night, Haines couldn’t wrap her mind around why Trump deserved to have a fair trial, admitting it “blew my mind”:
I was watching that Bill Barr interview. One thing that got me is that our legal system probably -- I mean for good reason but always protects the defendant over everyone else and in this instance what bothers me is, don't we think we should know everything about this trial before someone goes to a voting booth to vote for the president of the United States?
And Bill Barr was saying last night, you know, really, the system leans towards making sure he has a fair trial. And that just blew my mind because I don't know how you can let people go to a voting booth when you’re literally under [investigation].
Behar recalled that CNN legal analyst Elie Honig was in the audience on Wednesday and said he didn’t think Trump would get jail time and that the trial wouldn’t conclude before the presidential election. “He said that he didn't think that this would happen, this him going to jail or whatever until after the election. Which does not help the situation,” Behar lamented.
Racist co-host Sunny Hostin shifted to talking about how Trump would be imprisoned and seemed to settle on house arrest as being the best option logistically:
The president of the United States poses a very different situation, I would say, because how do you protect him? Do you put him in solitary confinement? It's a very difficult situation…But it’s very difficult. And so, I can understand why people are saying, you know, they're going to let him go to Mar-a-Lago with his ankle bracelet, they’re going to have him a probation office, and they’re going to let it all play out.
Behar followed up with a rather funny and self-aware joke that “maybe they should put him in a room with just us. Now, that would be a punishment.”
But her real idea was you have Trump shipped off someplace and be exiled from America for the rest of his life:
BEHAR: Well what about making a deal? What about, Sunny, if he makes a deal with Smith?
HOSTIN: Without jail time?
BEHAR: Without jail. And he says, "I'm going away and moving to Saudi Arabia."
[Laughter and applause]
Wouldn't that be good? Just go away!
“I don't even care if he goes to jail I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country,” she shouted.
Hostin then suggested a possible plea deal would include an agreement that Trump “never run for public office again anywhere.”
The View’s objection to a former president getting a fair trial and craving exile was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Downy and Red Lobster. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
August 3, 2023
11:05:07 a.m. Eastern(…)
SARA HAINES: I was watching that Bill Barr interview. One thing that got me is that our legal system probably -- I mean for good reason but always protects the defendant over everyone else and in this instance what bothers me is, don't we think we should know everything about this trial before someone goes to a voting booth to vote for the president of the United States?
And Bill Barr was saying last night, you know, really, the system leans towards making sure he has a fair trial. And that just blew my mind because I don't know how you can let people go to a voting booth when you’re literally under –
JOY BEHAR: But you heard Elie Honig yesterday – was here, who’s a great pundit and a lawyer I believe he is too. He said that he didn't think that this would happen, this him going to jail or whatever until after the election. Which does not help the situation.
[Crosstalk]
SUNNY HOSTIN: He thinks there could be conviction but not necessarily being in jail. And the thing is, this has never been confronted before. Like, let's say he gets convicted, right? Most people aren't allowed to go to Mar-a-Lago with a little ankle bracelet. Like, they just go to jail and they wait for their appeal. The president of the United States poses a very different situation, I would say, because how do you protect him? Do you put him in solitary confinement? It's a very difficult situation.
Someone said yes. [Points to the audience]
[Applause]
BEHAR: Solitary.
HOSTIN: I didn't say that.
But’s it’s very difficult. And so, I can understand why people are saying, “you know, they're going to let him go to Mar-a-Lago with his ankle bracelet, they’re going to have him a probation office, and they’re going to let it all play out. But we've never had a constitutional crisis where the president is currently under indictment or is already --
BEHAR: Well, maybe they should put him in a room with just us. Now, that would be a punishment.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I don't know who would break first.
(…)
11:12:15 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: Well what about making a deal? What about, Sunny, if he makes a deal with Smith.
HOSTIN: Without jail time?
BEHAR: Without jail. And he says, I'm going away and moving to Saudi Arabia.
[Laughter and applause]
Wouldn't that be good? Just go away. We don’t – I don't even care if he goes to jail I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country.
HOSTIN: I think there are certain prosecutors that would offer him a plea agreement without time if he would agree to never run for public office again anywhere.
BEHAR: And go away. I don't want to see him in the Enquirer.
(…)
