'The View' co-host upsets fellow liberal hosts after deeming Trump punishment in NY civil case 'excessive'
"The View" co-hosts Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin argued on Tuesday that the punishment in the New York civil case against Donald Trump was "excessive," which prompted some sharp disagreement from their fellow liberal hosts.
"I cared the least about this case of all of Donald Trump’s. For all intents and purposes, it’s a victimless crime. He did inflate his assets in an egregious way. If I pretended my apartment was three times the size it was to try to get a loan, I would have consequences," Griffin said as Joy Behar pushed back and said taxpayers got "screwed" because of it.
She said cases like the New York civil case took the seriousness off of some other other cases against the former president, specifically citing the case in Georgia and the federal case against him related to Jan. 6.
"These are the most important cases. What I hate this is, Trump is going to use this judgment to say, ‘look, it’s a witch-hunt. They’re trying to bankrupt me. Those cases are also witch-hunts,' and to some of the public that's going to resonate," she said.
Trump was barred from operating his business in New York for three years and was found liable for more than $350 million in damages in the civil fraud case brought against him, his family and the Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"Although I always agree with someone being accountable and held to task, I'm a little bias, I love seeing Trump held to task because he rarely has been. I do think, and this is not due to any emotion toward Trump, I thought the punishment was excessive," Haines said.
She said there were no direct victims, agreeing with Griffin, and cited the Trump University case, where there were direct victims, who were given a $25 million settlement.
"My criticism of this is not because I feel any sorrow for Donald Trump, but I do think that he is an instigator of sowing distrust in institutions," Haines argued. "It’s his one thing. Everyone’s completely kind of against him, it’s a political witch hunt, it’s personal — this ruling, to the number, it has been held is slightly playing into the optics that this was political and personal."
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"But the number was proven by evidence. There’s a paper trail," co-host Sunny Hostin pushed back. Whoopi Goldberg also said, "It didn’t come out of nowhere."
Hostin went on to say that Trump "defrauded the government and the state of New York for years."
"I just think the number is excessive to prove the point and hold him accountable," Haines said. Hostin pushed back again, "not if you say that you have a billion dollars."
Haines shook her head in disagreement.
Goldberg said the court did what they were supposed to, and that was the "bottom line."
New York Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his ruling Friday after a months-long trial beginning in October and stemming from James' lawsuit alleging the former president inflated his assets and committed fraud, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Engoron ruled that Trump and defendants were liable for "persistent and repeated fraud," "falsifying business records," "issuing false financial statements," "conspiracy to falsify false financial statements," "insurance fraud," and "conspiracy to commit insurance fraud."
Fox News' Brooke Singman, Anders Hagstrom and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.