‘Even With Bush!’ Whoopi Goldberg Sad to See a U.S. President Under Indictment, Never Could Have ‘Imagined’ It

The View on Tuesday began with a roundtable discussion of the arraignment of former President Donald Trump on criminal charges in New York City, an event host Whoopi Goldberg lamented in her introduction as a “sad” day for America – a comment which sparked immediate debate among the co-hosts.

“You know, the circus is here. The circus has come to town. The media frenzy continues, as you know, who heads to a New York courthouse to become the first president to ever be arraigned on criminal charges. He’s expected to plead not guilty. And the judge has banned cameras from televising the proceedings,” Goldberg began, adding:

But we’ll let photographers into the courtroom before things begin. Now, reporters will be allowed on a first come first serve basis. And, apparently, they’ve been lining up since last month. No, a couple of days ago. So, I mean, how are you feeling about a historic day? You know, it’s sad, but I’m glad something’s happening.

“I think it’s unprecedented,” added Sunny Hostin.

“It’s not sad. What’s sad?” shot back co-host Joy Behar.

“Well, I’m sad that, in that an American president,” replied Golberg as Behar interjected, “Oh that’s sad.”

“Well, that’s what I’m saying. It’s sad an American president,” Goldberg continued as Behar jumped in again.

“But the fact that he is being called in for questioning, etc… And he’s being indicted because he’s committed certain crimes. It’s not sad, that’s American justice,” Behar argued.

“Or is alleged to have committed crimes, because he has the… It has to be proven,” Hostin replied, noting the presumption of innocence in the U.S. justice system.

“But again, it’s America’s first, the first time in any of our lifetimes now. And I don’t think any of us could have ever really imagined this,” Goldberg added, further arguing her point.

“I imagined it, I imagined it. Yeah, he was,” jested Hostin as the audience laughed.

“With him, yeah. No, I mean, with other… I would never think with other presidents,” Goldberg replied.

“Yeah, I would never think President Obama would do something like this,” Hostin agreed.

“Even with Bush! I mean, as angry as we got with Bush. I don’t think anybody thought this was the direction we’d ever head in,” Goldberg added.

“Although we did have, you know, we had Nixon,” Hostin replied.

“We had Nixon who was able to get out of some things,” Hostin concluded.

“But even so, he had the sense to resign. You know, get out of the game,” added Alyssa Farah Griffin as Hostin gleefully agreed.

“Well, you know why? Because the Republicans turned on him. That’s why. Yeah. If the Republican Party in this country did the right thing, we wouldn’t be in this position. He would have been impeached in the first place,” Behar said to applause from the audience.

Farah Griffin, a former Trump aide, added, “Well, and by the way. There’s been yeah, there’s been a bunch of reporting out there that Trump is loving this and he is raising money off of it, reportedly $8 million. But I know him well enough to know he’s not loving this. He’s spiraling.”

“He’s somebody who, despite his terrible actions, does think about legacy and how he’s perceived and now his life, it’s going to, whether it’s his obituary is going to say, you know, he was indicted, the first American president to be. And right now, his team is also freaking out over a potential gag order from the judge, which will prevent him from being able to speak about what happened. And that’s what he wants. He wants to go out and frame this his own way and spin the public. It might not be able to happen,” Farah Griffin concluded.

Watch the full clip above via ABC

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]