“The View” co-host Joy Behar said Thursday that Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is using the Pledge of Allegiance to hide his alleged “sins.”
Conflict arose between Gaetz and Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler at the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday when the Florida representative put forth an amendment to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each hearing. Nadler said they already recite the pledge on the floor and that those who allegedly denied the results of the 2020 presidential election should not recite it.
Behar said Gaetz only wants to recite the Pledge to cover up his alleged support for Jan. 6, denying the 2020 election results and allegations of sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl. Career prosecutors at the Department of Justice said Gaetz is unlikely to face prosecution in the case due to witness credibility problems.
“So, the question is, what exactly is Gaetz seeking refuge from? So, in other words, we have to do the Pledge of Allegiance because he’s hiding all of his sins. We know what they are. One is that he supported the insurrection, he’s been accused of sexual trafficking which he has now denied — I’ll say that — he’s an election denier and these are the reasons — they always say ‘let’s wave the flag, rally around the flag when there’s something to hide,’ and that’s what he’s doing,” Behar said.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then pointed fingers at both Fox News and lawmakers for their criticism of “The View” for voicing their “what’s wrong” with the U.S. (RELATED: Joy Behar Suggests New Mexico Special Prosecutor Is Charging Alec Baldwin Because She’s A ‘Big Republican’)
“The beauty of America is you can say ‘hey, this is what’s wrong with America’ and we can fix it. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing instead of asking people to do what they already do everyday, which is say the Pledge of Allegiance,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said.
Co-host Sara Haines said Gaetz wants lawmakers to show “blind allegiance,” and said that the Pledge of Allegiance is wrong for stating the nation is “indivisible,” and argued Gaetz will never show his true allegiance to the U.S. due to his past.
Co-host Sunny Hostin said that she no longer believes the Pledge of Allegiance represents all people in the country after having taken an African-American History course in college. She argued that Americans should not cheer on “American exceptionalism” until the country meets its full potential.
The program’s conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin then added that the U.S. does not have to be perfect in order for one to love their country, and that European and other nations across the globe have racist tendencies and other issues.