The co-hosts of "The View" praised CNN host Kasie Hunt for abruptly ending an interview with Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt after she criticized debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper for bias.
"The View" co-hosts wholeheartedly endorsed CNN host Kasie Hunt's decision to cut off her interview with Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Monday after Leavitt accused debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper of bias.
The View" Celebrates CNN's Kasie Hunt for Cutting Off Trump Campaign Spokeswoman
After airing a clip of the exchange, co-host Whoopi Goldberg beamed and exclaimed, "That was so good."
Leavitt had informed Hunt that Trump was "knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years."
The View" Celebrates CNN's Kasie Hunt for Cutting Off Trump Campaign Spokeswoman
Undeterred, Hunt provided Leavitt an opportunity to switch gears and address policy issues. However, Leavitt resumed her critique of Tapper, prompting Hunt to swiftly terminate the interview.
"You are a campaign spokesperson," interjected "View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin. "You should be there to discuss Donald Trump's proactive agenda for the American people? How does he want to build the middle class or secure the border? But she can’t. It’s grievance. It’s rage. It’s retribution. It’s the same thing that he suffers from."
The View" Celebrates CNN's Kasie Hunt for Cutting Off Trump Campaign Spokeswoman
Whoopi Goldberg commended CNN's Kasie Hunt for concluding the interview with Karoline Leavitt on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Screenshot/ABC)
Co-host Sunny Hostin lauded Hunt's interview management skills and quoted NBC News' Lester Holt, who in 2021 stated, "the idea we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in."
"She was being fair to the truth," Hostin remarked, referring to Hunt. "She was trying to get to the facts. [Leavitt] refused to get to the facts … When that happens, you cut the mic. You cut the mic, and that’s what she did."
Goldberg concurred and asserted that this approach was not novel.
"They talk at you, not to you, and that’s what she was doing, and it’s not new," Goldberg said.
Goldberg maintained that "the media has pretty much always been fair to each side. She emphasized that the co-hosts of the show "have to tell you both sides," citing her two Republican co-hosts, Navarro and Griffin, who often align with their liberal co-hosts on issues pertaining to former president Trump and the GOP.
"We can’t allow, on this show, to have things said that we know for a fact are not true. That’s what it used to be. That’s what it needs to go back to being, and that’s where you all come in. It’s OK to feel how you feel, but demand the truth. Demand folks fact-check what they’re telling you because what they’re telling you is important," Goldberg continued.
Leavitt, however, did not make inaccurate statements but rather expressed her opinion on Tapper and Bash's past critical remarks about Trump.
After Hunt attempted to revert the conversation to the debate during their exchange on Monday, Leavitt informed Hunt that it would take mere minutes to research Tapper's commentary on the former president.
"Ma'am, I'm going to stop this interview if you're going to continue to attack my colleagues," Hunt declared, before concluding the interview.
Leavitt shared with Fox News Digital that CNN's actions further demonstrated that Trump would not receive fair treatment.
"CNN cutting off my microphone for bringing up a debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies just proves our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly in Thursday’s debate. Yet President Trump is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win," Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Monday.
A CNN spokesperson subsequently defended Hunt's actions and praised Bash and Tapper as seasoned reporters.
"They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate this cycle. There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion and we look forward to the debate on June 27 in Atlanta," the spokesperson stated.
