The View Wants Military Members in Prison, Accuse Them of ‘War Crimes’

The anti-military sentiment that had been percolating for months on the set of ABC’s The View boiled over a bit on Monday. The suspiciously timed and anonymous accusations about alleged orders from War Secretary Pete Hegseth about eliminating alleged cartel drug smugglers from Venezuela gave the liberal ladies all the cover they needed to accuse American service members of “flat-out murder” and “war crimes.” All while admitting they were completely ignorant about international law.

Fresh from shooting a soap opera in Italy, moderator Whoopi Goldberg led into the segment by suggesting other countries felt bad for America and alluded to America living under a dictatorship like Italy did:

GOLDBERG: Oh yeah. But, you know, this is the thing about other countries, they've lived through this. They've gone through this.

HOSTIN: You said that.

GOLDBERG: They know what this is like and they're just biding their time saying when the people decide enough is enough, it will be enough.

 

 

“But apparently while I was gone some horrifying things happened,” Goldberg declared, using air quotes to describe how Hegseth had, “taken a lot of heat over a report that he had an order to kill everyone on board a Venezuelan boat of ‘alleged’ drug traffickers, which led to a second strike that killed the two survivors.”

Ignoring the fact that the U.S. had declared drug cartels to be terrorist organizations, pretend independent co-host Sara Haines bloviated about how “we are not at war with Venezuela.” Then, without evidence, she accused all the service members involved of “flat-out murder” and “war crimes.”

Haines also boasted that “this is why those Democratic vets put out that video last week that … they can refuse to act on an illegal order.”

 

 

Of course, as the token former federal prosecutor, co-host Sunny Hostin’s job was to use her credentials to launder their accusations as a legal certainty.

Despite admitting that she “can’t speak to the law of it” because she never practiced international law, maritime law, nor studied the Uniform Code of Military Conduct or the Law of Armed Conflict, Hostin spoke with exacting certainty of what the law was, how it was to be carried out, and suggest service members were criminally liable now:

[Y]ou are supposed to take those fighters as war criminals, prisoners of war, and you are supposed to give them refuge and you're supposed to take care of them and then you are supposed to put them into a court of law. Instead, they killed them.

That means the person who gave the order can be held accountable and put in prison, and that means the person that conducted -- the people who conducted the orders that pulled the trigger are also responsible and can be held accountable. So, now you have people that are serving their countries, that are serving this country as patriots, perhaps following an illegal order and then themselves can be court-martialed! Imagine that!

 

 

Goldberg went a step further and suggested that those service members were intentionally hung out to dry by the administration, which Hostin agreed with:

GOLDBERG: Well, what he has done is he's set them up.

HOSTIN: Yes.

GOLDBERG: He has set them up.

HOSTIN: If it's true, yes.

Hostin would go on to falsely claim the strikes happen “In the Venezuelan waters,” when they actually happened in international waters. “So this is not new, but he's setting our people up and it's not pretty,” Goldberg proclaimed after hearing about the strikes on 22 other boats.

Goldberg was right when she said “this is not new,” but not in the way she thought. During the Obama years, the administration bent the rules about regarding air strikes when they were bombing Libya in 2011. And The View didn’t express outrage back then.

The View’s hypocrisy wasn’t new either.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
December 1, 2025
11:03:06 a.m. Eastern

(…)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: It was crazy. But we had the best time and it was --

ANA NAVARRO: Starring in a fake soap opera sounds so much better than living through the real one.

GOLDBERG: Well, one doesn't ever stop living in the real one. I didn't need to take I with me because -- because everyone there is aware.

SUNNY HOSTIN: Are they? Are they?

GOLDBERG: Oh yeah. But, you know, this is the thing about other countries, they've lived through this. They've gone through this.

HOSTIN: You said that.

GOLDBERG: They know what this is like and they're just biding their time saying when the people decide enough is enough, it will be enough.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: So that's going to take what it is –

[Applause]

But apparently while I was gone some horrifying things happened.

(…)

11:04:17 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: Then you have Defense [sic] Secretary Pete Hegseth. He’s taken a lot of heat over a report that he had an order to kill everyone on board a Venezuelan boat of “alleged” [air quotes] drug traffickers, which led to a second strike that killed the two survivors. He boasted about these strikes several times on social media, but denies the report and insists everything was done lawfully.

(…)

11:06:09 a.m. Eastern

SARA HAINES: Well, I know this is why those Democratic vets put out that video last week that people said ‘why would they need to say what's already obvious, that, you know, military personnel’ -- they don't need to -- they can refuse to act on an illegal order and people were like, yeah, but there's nothing like that. Well, this is a situation where there were clearly in the cameras two men on like part -- parts of the explosion and then they're killed. So the likelihood of this is it's not a -- we are not at war with Venezuela but it's murder, it's flat-out murder and anyone that acted on those orders could be held on -- on war crimes.

HOSTIN: Yeah, that’s true.

(…)

11:09:35 a.m. Eastern

HOSTIN: I can't speak to the law of it. I don’t know. I'm not a geopolitical expert. But in terms of the law of it, you're right, Sara, that is why those Army vets explained do not follow -- you do not have to follow illegal orders. Do you know why? Because if this is deemed to have been war crimes, which by all accounts right now there are seven sources that said Pete Hegseth did say, ‘kill them all,’ even after there were two survivors, what you are supposed to do under international law, you are supposed to take those fighters as war criminals, prisoners of war, and you are supposed to give them refuge and you're supposed to take care of them and then you are supposed to put them into a court of law.

Instead, they killed them. That means the person who gave the order can be held accountable and put in prison, and that means the person that conducted -- the people who conducted the orders that pulled the trigger are also responsible and can be held accountable. So, now you have people that are serving their countries, that are serving this country as patriots, perhaps following an illegal order and then themselves can be court-martialed! Imagine that!

GOLDBERG: Well, what he has done is he's set them up.

HOSTIN: Yes.

GOLDBERG: He has set them up.

HOSTIN: If it's true, yes.

GOLDBERG: Listen, this is not the first time it's happened. This is like the fifth or sixth or seventh time. I mean, at some point somebody is responsible and the buck stops there.

HOSTIN: Yes, it does.

NAVARRO: Many more times than that. It's been happening since September. They have killed upwards of 80 people and I think --

HAINES: 22 boats.

GOLDBERG: 22 boats.

HOSTIN: Yes. In the Venezuelan waters.

GOLDBERG: So this is not new, but he's setting our people up and it's not pretty. We will be right back.