Tensions boiled over on “The View” Thursday as former Trump official Alyssa Farah Griffin defended Republicans on their support for Ukraine.
“Where were all of these Republicans when the former guy in the office was holding money hostage, saying ‘we’re not going to give you the money until you give me the information about [Hunter] Biden?’ I don’t remember them being concerned at all that it was an issue, particularly when the President of Ukraine said ‘we need to be able to defend ourselves’ and he dangled,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “Where the hell were y’all?”
The former White House strategic communications director, Griffin said she was working with the Department of Defense to aid Ukraine, and told Goldberg the former President Donald Trump’s administration’s reasoning for the freeze was covered during the first impeachment trial in 2019.
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Co-host Ana Navarro claimed Trump “spread propaganda” that Ukraine was involved in the 2016 election, froze military assistance and refused to hold a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (RELATED: ‘You Keep Attacking Me’: Ana Navarro And Stephanie Grisham Share Heated Exchange Over Working For The Trump Admin)
“I want to be abundantly clear though,” Griffin pushed back. “Donald Trump is not president anymore and we have a humanitarian crisis—”
“I’m sorry, you can’t stand up and say here ‘hey, this guy’s [President Joe Biden] not doing his job’ he did, he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing,” Goldberg interrupted. “What I’m taking offense at is the fact that these people are suddenly all concerned now about what’s happening.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin chimed in, arguing that 31 Republicans voted against providing aid to Ukraine last week. Biden signed an $800 million assistance package Wednesday to provide 2,000 Javelin missiles, light-anti-armor and AT-4 anti-armor systems, and millions of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds.
“This is a lot of posturing by the Republican Party, and I think it’s despicable and I think it’s disgusting,” Hostin said. “And I don’t think you should defend it.”
Griffin said thousands of people are dying in Ukraine, and during a time of war the nation is supposed to back the president. She said she “stands by Joe Biden,” but calls on him to provide MiG jets to Ukraine.
Hostin said the majority of opposition toward sending the jets to Ukraine is coming from the Republican Party, while only two Democrats, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, oppose it.
Zelenskyy requested an increased number of fighter jets from the U.S. during a March 6 address to Congress. Poland proposed sending their own MiGs to a U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany, and from there be transferred to Ukraine. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby denied the proposal but vowed to stay in close communication with Poland on ways to aid Ukraine.