ABC
The co-hosts of The View gushed over CNN host Kasie Hunt cutting off her interview with Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Monday after Leavitt criticized debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper as biased. After playing a clip of the exchange, co-host Whoopi Goldberg smiled and expressed her satisfaction, remarking, “That was so good.”
The Trump campaign criticized CNN for abruptly ending the interview, with Leavitt stating that it proved their point about bias against Trump. Leavitt’s remarks highlighted Tapper’s history of criticizing Trump, which she argued justified concerns about fair treatment in the upcoming debate.
Leavitt had told Hunt that Trump was “knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years.” In response, Hunt gave Leavitt an opportunity to pivot back to discussing policy but abruptly cut off the interview when Leavitt resumed her criticism of Tapper, as per Mediaite.
The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin also commented on the situation, saying, “You are a campaign spokesperson. You should be there to talk about what’s Trump’s proactive agenda for the American people. How does he want to build the middle class or secure the border? But she can’t. It’s a grievance. It’s rage. It’s retribution. It’s the same thing that he suffers from.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin praised Hunt for her handling of the interview and echoed a quote from NBC News’s Lester Holt, as per Deadline, who said in 2021 that “the idea we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.” “She was being fair to the truth,” Hostin said, referring to Hunt. “She was trying to get to the facts. [Leavitt] refused to get to the facts. When that happens, you cut the mic. You cut the mic, and that’s what she did.”
Goldberg agreed and argued that such behavior from interviewees is nothing new. “They talk at you, not to you, and that’s what she was doing, and it’s not new,” Goldberg stated. “The media has pretty much always been fair to each side.” Goldberg also emphasized that the co-hosts of The View strive to present both sides, citing her two Republican co-hosts, Ana Navarro and Griffin, who regularly converse with their liberal co-hosts regarding the former president and the GOP, as per Fox News.
“We can’t allow, on this show, to have things said that we know for a fact are not true. That’s what it used to be. That’s what it needs to go back to being, and that’s where you all come in. It’s OK to feel how you feel but demand the truth. Demand folks fact-check what they’re telling you because what they’re telling you is important,” Goldberg continued.
Leavitt was criticizing Tapper and Bash for their commentary on Trump. After Hunt attempted to steer the conversation back to the debate during their exchange on Monday, Leavitt told Hunt that it would take just five minutes to research Tapper and his commentary on the former president. “Ma’am, I’m going to stop this interview if you’re going to continue to attack my colleagues,” Hunt said before ending the interview.
