“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin sparked a heated exchange Wednesday after accusing fellow co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin of being “incapable” of defending former Vice President Mike Pence.
The co-hosts discussed Pence and Christie as they both launched their presidential runs this week. Hostin told Griffin point-blank she is concerned about her inability to defend Pence.
“What scares me, Alyssa, is that you are incapable of defending a man that you worked for that you know of,” Hostin told Griffin.
“I am not, no, no, no, why don’t you ask me a question rather than—” Griffin began. “I had a point I wanted to make.”
“You said you needed to hear more from him. I don’t need to hear more from Pence for several reasons,” Hostin continued. “Because when I lived in—”
“Well you just accused me of something, so why don’t you let me actually answer,” Griffin pushed back. “You’re never going to vote for a Republican ever.” (RELATED: ‘The View’ Breaks Down Over Cornel West)
“Nope, nope, I’m gonna finish what I’m gonna say,” Hostin said.
Hostin accused Pence of badly handling a 2015 AIDS outbreak in Indiana and claimed many people “died because of him” during his time as governor of Indiana. She then criticized him for his handling of the COVID-19 response, which he was in charge of under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
An estimated 183-84 HIV infections broke out in Indiana by August 11, 2015, a significantly lower number than the AIDS epidemic that broke out in the 1980’s, according to FactCheck.org. Pence has been accused of taking a slow response to the outbreak, but the former vice president has doubled down on his actions.
“Indiana would go on to change the law to mirror what action I had taken,” he previously told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “It was a moment where we had brought — we had brought all of the resources to bear, first from a health perspective, a law enforcement perspective, and I’m glad to say that we got all of those people treated. Everyone was able to get support and help and we move forward and the community recovered.”
Griffin criticized Hostin for defending left-wing third party candidate Cornel West during Tuesday’s panel and accused her of liking to “make it personal” with her.
“Are you gonna give me a chance to answer? I mean, this is absurd,” Griffin said. “This is not what this show is about. This is Barbara Walters’ legacy. Let women speak. Everybody’s hearing Sunny Hostin’s view. Are you just gonna keep going or am I gonna—I want to answer my question!
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then interrupted and cut to a commercial break.