Hostin bashed CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as not up to the task of checking Trump’s claims
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin torched her fellow co-hosts Friday for interrupting her during a rant on how wrong it was for CNN to host a town hall with former President Donald Trump this week
The lawyer and co-host went on a long spiel denouncing the network for giving Trump a platform of three million people on Wednesday evening, a point the other co-hosts disagreed with.
While she was making her case, several of her co-hosts tried to interject, which prompted Hostin to snap, “Can I just not be interrupted for a second?”
The tense moment happened after co-host Joy Behar gave Hostin the floor to disagree with her point that it was fine to let the Republican front-runner show who he is to the American people.
Hostin began by stating her opposition to each of her other co-hosts on the topic, saying, “I disagreed yesterday, the day before, and I disagree with all of you right now.”
“I think that you don’t give a bigot, and a racist, and a misogynist, and a liar, and a cheater, and a sexual abuser, and a defamer a platform of three million people,” she added.
Hostin continued by ripping CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who she accused of “gaslighting” her with his own on-air response to the town hall. Cooper attacked Trump and the Republican town hall audience but also scolded the audience to not retreat to information silos.
“And I’m saddened — I used to work for CNN for quite some time. Anderson Cooper has been my friend for over 20 years and I’m saddened that he tried to gaslight me yesterday by saying that people are in ‘silos.’ People aren’t living in a silo, they are choosing to listen to the lies or not,” she said.
Hostin returned to Trump, saying, “We know who this man is. We learned who this man is and we did not need to see what we saw. I think that that town hall will be studied in journalism schools around the country as to what not to do.”
Hostin then provided some criticism for the town hall moderator, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, claiming she didn’t fact-check Trump’s claims well over the course of the evening. She said, “It was not fact-checked appropriately. I don’t believe—.” The co-hosts cut in, disputing that point.
Behar and co-host Sara Haines both interrupted with claims that “she tried.”
Behar also asserted, “The girl tried. Let’s give her some credit here,” referring to Collins.
At that moment, a frustrated Hostin waved her hand and snapped, “Can I just not be interrupted for a second?” The outburst was followed by silence from the panel and an uncomfortable laugh.
She then continued her original point, saying, “She didn’t have the range. He agreed to the interview because he knew he could steamroll here.” Hostin also noted, “Jake Tapper would have done a better job,” referencing Collins’ CNN colleague.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin added the criticism of Collins — a CNN colleague of hers — wasn’t fair.
