“The View” co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunny Hostin sparred over former President Donald Trump’s criminal charges Wednesday.
The former president appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, where he was fingerprinted and formally charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Griffin, who previously worked for the Trump administration, said the former president will spend no prison time over the case.
“This case is not taking Donald Trump down and I say that for a couple of reasons,” Griffin said.
“How do you know that?” Hostin interjected.
“There was no conspiracy charge which a lot of people were looking to see,” Griffin continued. “The felony charges, the max sentence is four years but this is a first time offender, it’s a non-violent crime, it’s a Class E felony. Every legal expert I’ve talked to has said it’s most likely a fine and probation if he’s even convicted.”
“I’ll tell you why you’re wrong is this legal expert,” Hostin said, referring to herself. “That is wrong.”
“He’s not going to jail over this,” Griffin said.
“I will tell you why you’re wrong. Prosecutors are not only in the business of prosecuting crimes, we’re in the business of sending out a message,” Hostin said. “If you let the President of the United States be found guilty of 1 to 34 counts, even if they’re misdemeanors, and he gets to go home scot free, you’re sending a message to the country that it’s okay, and that’s not gonna happen.” (RELATED: ‘This Is About Intimidation’: Rep. Jim Jordan Goes Off On Alvin Bragg Criminally Charging Trump)
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg declared that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg needs the space “to do his job” and criticized people for calling for the prosecution of Hunter Biden. She defended Bragg by saying she is “glad” he is charging Trump for the alleged crimes and said he is “concerned” about the other crimes rising in New York City.
Bragg reduced 52% of felony crimes to misdemeanor cases and requested bail in 49% of felony cases. In an initial memo, Bragg announced robberies would be classified as misdemeanor petty larceny, unless a person was physically harmed in the incident—a policy he later scrapped.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts in the charges and intends to attend the next court hearing scheduled for December 4.
Bragg announced Tuesday that the former president’s team allegedly paid $130,000 to former porn star Stormy Daniels and $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep silent about alleged extramarital affairs they had with Trump. American Media Inc. (AMI) allegedly paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman to silence him about an alleged story he had about an alleged child born to Trump born out of wedlock.
