Sunny Hostin Shades Alyssa Farah Griffin: 'It Was Your Job to Know' About the Proud Boys

It may be a Friday, but Sunny Hostin went into the weekend swinging when she suggested Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as communications director under then-President Trump, was negligent for failing to learn about the Proud Boys, a far-right white nationalist group.

The segment began with a lowlight reel of Trump encouraging extremist violence, as he did when he told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during a September 2020 debate. Griffin, who was the White House Director of Strategic Communications at the time, told The View's panel that she initially downplayed the remark because she didn't know about the domestic terrorist group.

"I remember watching that 'Proud Boys stand back and stand by,' and honestly, I'd never even heard of the Proud Boys," said Griffin. "But I was like, 'There's something weird about it.' And it was very clearly, in retrospect, after January 6, was meant to tell them, 'You are my guys.'"

"But did you not see that then?" interrupted Hostin. "Because I think I remember reading that when you were his press secretary, you didn't think that needed a clarification."

Griffin insisted she "didn't know what it meant" and "didn't know who they were," before attempting to turn it back on her co-host, asking, "Did you know who the Proud Boys were?"

TRUMP PREDICTS “BIG PROBLEMS” IF INDICTED: #TheView co-hosts react to former Pres. Trump's comments from an interview about his political future, where he was asked about the possibility of being indicted by the Department of Justice. https://t.co/cVclFZQU98 pic.twitter.com/zjSXngHN1E

— The View (@TheView) September 16, 2022

"Well, of course. I'm in the business of knowing these things," replied Hostin. "I think Black people need to know enemies of people of color."

"And quite frankly, not to push too much on you, it was your job to know about that, right?" she continued. "Why would you not think that that's crazy?"

The conservative co-host said that while she was "briefed on a ton violent extremist groups," but "never once" did the Proud Boys come up. "That, to me, exposes a gap in law enforcement," said Griffin, shifting the blame. "I had never heard that group before until [Trump] said it on air."

"And I regret that I said, 'It's much ado about nothing.' It didn't mean anything to me," she continued. "And then seeing what happened on January 6, and then seeing Proud Boys come up and say, 'Oh yeah, I was there because he told me to be.' They're admitting what we know. So when Trump comes out and says this stuff, people have to believe him."

Elsewhere on The View... On a much lighter note, The View co-hosts got in the weeds about mistakenly-sent "weenie pics" and dirty texts. The discussion offered Griffin an opportunity to educate the ladies about the horrors of nude AirDrops on the Subway, while Hostin shared that she once received a photo of a "big thing" via WhatsApp.

“I thought I was gonna die” pic.twitter.com/8P8MUpXryF

— 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧 ☭ (@HostinsHens) September 16, 2022

May the women of The View all have a weenie pic-free weekend (unless it's been requested, of course).

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.