Donald Trump weighed in on a story that has been swirling around MAGA media since the release of the remaining Israeli hostages by Hamas: A pledge by The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin to wear a MAGA hat on the show if that happened.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked by a reporter about Griffin’s pledge.
“Did she put the hat on?” Trump asked.
“Well, she hasn’t gotten the hat yet,” the reporter responded.
He then asked the reporter to repeat who he was talking about.
“Alyssa Farah.”
“She used to work here,” Trump said. “…She gave me the most beautiful letter you have ever seen. ‘I was a great president. What a great job.’ Some of the letters have been quoted. This is Alyssa, who I never thought was very outstanding, and she didn’t have a big role here, either. And then we had January 6, and she left.”
Trump then went on, “And then she got hired by The View, and they gave her a couple of bucks, and she changed her view very quickly.”
He added that “it just shows what a fraud The View is, because this woman gave me letters and statements. She said I was the greatest president in her lifetime. Now she’s not that old, so I didn’t consider it a great compliment, but I’ve had better.”
Griffin served as White House director of strategic communications in 2020, during Trump’s first term. She resigned that December, and Trump’s reference to a letter may have referred to one she wrote upon her departure, in which she praised the administration’s accomplishments and called her tenure “the honor of a lifetime.”
Griffin was critical of Trump n the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, before she joined The View. She became a regular co-host in 2022.
In December, Griffin said on the show that if Trump “gets the hostages out, I promise that I will wear a MAGA hat for one day on the show and say, ‘Thank you for doing it.’”
On Monday’s show, Griffin said, “Whether you like Trump or not, I think that he, Steve Witkoff and I think Jared Kushner do deserve credit for this deal.”
ABC has not yet commented.
In July, the White House lashed out at co-host Joy Behar over comments she made on the show, and warned that she should “self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump’s historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air.” Brendan Carr, who Trump appointed as chairman of the FCC, later warned of “consequences” for the show. He has since suggested that the FCC should look into whether the show still fell within the bona fide news exemption of the agency’s equal time rule. The latter requires that if broadcasters feature a political candidate on their show, they provide equal time to other rivals if requested. But news broadcasts and talk shows have for years been exempt from those requirements.
