The cackling coven known as The View has been following the lead of ABC News all week and ignoring the filing of Special Counsel John Durham against Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. But the ladies couldn’t help themselves on Friday after their queen, two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lash out at Fox News for reporting on the story. The panel cheered her on as they urged her to sue for “defamation.”
They never actually addressed what spurred on the renewed attention directed at Clinton, but co-host Joy Behar suggested it was all cooked up by former President Trump as a “distraction” from his own legal troubles. She claimed Trump was “pushing a debunked story that Hillary spied on his presidential campaign which Fox News has been happy to run with 24/7[.]”
Back here, in reality, Durham found that Sussmann was billing the Clinton campaign for shady work he did teaming up with a tech executive to gather “derogatory information” about Trump by spying on the traffic coming and going from his properties and the White House.
Of course, that didn’t stop Behar from boasting about how “Hillary responded to it yesterday and it sounds like she's had enough.” And after playing a soundbite of Hillary suggesting Fox News was “getting awfully close to actual malice” with their reporting on the facts, Behar came back with an enthusiastic “Go get ‘em!”
“Should Hillary finally take Fox to court? These are the questions I have to pose to you today,” she inquired of the panel. Co-host and lawyer Sunny Hostin quickly jumped at the opportunity to respond. While she did note a defamation suit recently “didn't work out well for Sarah Palin right, when she took The New York Times to court,” she was encouraged by the “shots fired from Hillary Clinton.”
Hostin’s excitement stemmed from Clinton’s use of the phrase “actual malice.” “Actual malice is actually the standard for defamation if you are defaming a famous person, and she’s certainly is somebody that is famous in the public eye,” she touted as if something Clinton said should automatically be believed.
“So, it’s a very high standard but she's telling them, ‘you're actually reaching this legal standard.’ And I'm sure Fox's lawyers were listening to that kind of thing,” she added.
If “actual malice” was all it took for a defamation suit to go through, then The View could be liable in spades. In just this segment alone, Behar and co-host Sara Haines teamed up to suggest Eric Trump can’t count (Click “expand”):
HAINES: He sat there and over 500 times pled the fifth.
BEHAR: Can he count to 500?
[Laughter]
HAINES: No. That was someone else tallying that.
And speaking about legal liability. While the cast was going off on the financial and legal troubles the Trump family and Trump organization was going through, with the cast spouting off on accusation like they were proven fact, Hostin was forced by the producers to make a “legal statement” to cover their butts (Click “expand”):
BEHAR: You have a legal statement, Sunny.
HOSTIN: I have a legal note, everyone. In a statement, Trump said “there is on case” and called the ruling a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in history.” He denies wrongdoing and is expected to appeal the decision. In response to his long-time accounting firm Mazars USA dropping the Trump organization as a client and claiming it could no longer stand by a decade's worth of tax documents, Trump boasted about his “fantastic assets” and claimed Mazars’ decision to withdraw a result of “intimidation tactics.”
“I'm surprised he didn't blame it on Hillary Clinton,” Haines chimed in. “Why is he so obsessed with her?”
The View’s omission of the facts while bolstering Hillary was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from General Mills and Oral-B. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
February 18, 2022
11:02:02 a.m. EasternJOY BEHAR: So everyone, listen to this. It's 2016 all over again. Trump is ranting about witch hunts from the fake news media and spinning crazy conspiracy theories about crooked Hillary, of course. Remember lock her up? She's always going to be under investigation? Hello. Look at the mirror.
In case you missed it, a judge ordered Trump, Don Jr., the ever fabulous and Ivanka to testify about allegations their company made false real estate claims to get bank loans.
So, Trump is doing his playbook move of distraction. He's pushing a debunked story that Hillary spied on his presidential campaign which Fox News has been happy to run with 24/7, of course. Hillary responded to it yesterday and it sounds like she's had enough. Watch.
[Cuts to video]
HILLARY CLINTON: The more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get. [Transition] Fox leads the charge with accusations against me, counting on their audience to fall for it again. And as an aside, they're getting awfully close to actual malice in their attacks.
BEHAR: Go get ‘em!
There's a lot to unpack here today. So, let's start here. Will Trump finally be held accountable? That's what I want to know, or will these distractions -- and will these distractions work? They have in the past. His base is vulnerable to him, and they listen to him.
Should Hillary finally take Fox to court? These are the questions I have to pose to you today.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, you know, it didn't work out well for Sarah Palin right, when she took The New York Times to court. But I think those were shots fired from Hillary Clinton. Actual malice is actually the standard for defamation if you are defaming a famous person, and she’s certainly is somebody that is famous in the public eye.
BEHAR: I'll say. Right.
HOSTIN: So, it’s a very high standard but she's telling them, “you're actually reaching this legal standard.” And I'm sure Fox's lawyers were listening to that kind of thing.
But as for Trump, I do think he's going to be held accountable, and I've never said that before, right? But you’ve got parallel investigations. You've got a civil investigation in New York. You've got a criminal investigation in New York, and now that the judge has said, Donald Trump, you have to testify, and your kids -- your spawn has to also testify –
BEHAR: You spawn.
HOSTIN: They have to testify in court in a civil deposition. Anything they say can be used against them in a criminal trial.
SARA HAINES: But will they just plead the fifth?
HOSTIN: That can be used against them to.
HAINES: So, that can sit there and just – Isn't that what Eric Trump did? He sat there and over 500 times pled the fifth.
BEHAR: Can he count to 500?
[Laughter]
HAINES: No. That was someone else tallying that.
(…)
11:09:18 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: You have a legal statement, Sunny.
HOSTIN: I have a legal note, everyone. In a statement, Trump said “there is on case” and called the ruling a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in history.” He denies wrongdoing and is expected to appeal the decision. In response to his long-time accounting firm Mazars USA dropping the Trump organization as a client and claiming it could no longer stand by a decade's worth of tax documents, Trump boasted about his “fantastic assets” and claimed Mazars’ decision to withdraw a result of “intimidation tactics.”
HAINES: I'm surprised he didn't blame it on Hillary Clinton.
HOSTIN: Yeah, he should have.
BEHAR: That’s his last move.
HAINES: Why is he so obsessed with her?
(…)
