(ABC)
On Friday’s “The View,” the co-hosts reacted to Donald Trump’s tweets about Al Franken committing sexual assault. Watch the video below.
As Gossip Cop reported, on Thursday radio host Leann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her and also groping her breasts, the latter of which was captured in a photo He issued an apology for the misconduct and said he would cooperate with an ethics investigation. That night, Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault himself, tweeted, “The Al Frankenstien [sic] picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?”
Now on the ABC talk show, Whoopi Goldberg began by noting that Trump is “suddenly really chatty” about sexual assault. After reading aloud the tweets, she said into the camera, “You’re probably not the best person to be commenting on this right now, sir. I’m just saying, ’cause you know, you’ve not said anything about Mr. Moore, you’ve not said anything about your own allegations. Maybe you just want to sit this one out.” The moderator then asked her colleagues, “Does he have to address Mr. Moore now?”
“We have to be intellectually honest in who we are talking about in this moment, especially as the president of the United States, especially as Republicans,” replied Meghan McCain. “This Roy Moore stuff just seems to be getting worse and worse and worse. We’re talking about pedophilia, alleged allegations of pedophilia, which is just as horrific as everything else… He’s had ample opportunity to talk about Roy Moore, and he’s still not doing it.”
Commented Paula Faris, “Because it’s partisan. Everything right now is partisan. But the thing about morality is you can’t pick and choose morality. I think for the Democrats that are calling for Roy Moore to step aside, you have to also look yourself in the mirror. Republicans are calling for Al Franken to step down. It has to be vice versa.” But Goldberg shot back, “They’re not the same thing.”
She went on, “Here’s the question: She said this is what happened, Al says you know what, you’re absolutely right, I look at this it turns my stomach, you’re absolutely right, I understand everything and I apologize and I welcome anybody to come [investigate] me ethically. So now if she says listen, do you accept the apology, she says yes, I do, I think he was being honest, I’m good with it, so if she’s accepted it, why can’t we go with her? Because we gone with her when she said hey, this is really mad. He came out and said, hey, you’re right. So she I accept this apology. Can we?”
Faris questioned, “An apology changes everything?” But Joy Behar pointed out, “Neither Louis CK nor Al Franken has denied it. They both said it’s true and apologized, whereas Moore and Trump not only do they deny it, they say these women are liars. There is a difference in the way these two camps are dealing with it. That’s an important point to consider.”
Sara Haines also noted that with Franken and Moore, “This isn’t a court of law in this instance. This is how much you can sit with someone in the Senate. So for me, where I could be okay with Al Franken, not just because he apologized, but hearing her speak, I’m gauging it by the particulars.” Still, McCain said “a lot of Democrats calling for him to step down,” and referenced the calls being made on Fox News. Behar exclaimed, “Fox is sex harassment central, hello?!”
An angry McCain responded, “That’s so cheap. I’m trying to talk about the fact that I’m watching other networks and that people in your party are calling for the stepping down for Al Franken because this investigation being a distraction.” She went on, “This is what’s exhausting about this conversation. I totally agree with you that I think it’s absolutely disgusting at this point that we’re still having conversations about Roy Moore. We talked about it on the show. He should step down. There’s no way he should’ve been in this position to become a senator to begin with. But right now we’re talking about another senator who has allegations.”
“But we’re also talking about hypocriscy, which is what provoked my outburst,” Behar countered. “That’s what we’re talking about. Trump’s hypocrisy, Fox’s hypocrisy, Breitart, Sean Hannity. All of them.” McCain fired back, “What about the hypocrisy of Bill Clinton right now?” Behar asked, “Why bring up Bill Clinton at this point?” At that tense moment, the discussion had to end as they ran out of time. Check out the full video below.
