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The View in Review

Sunny Hostin Assures Lindsey Granger DOJ Won't 'Miss' If It Prosecutes Trump

"The Department of Justice has almost a 97% conviction rate."
  • Sunny Hostin set Lindsey Granger straight this morning. (Photos: ABC)
    Sunny Hostin set Lindsey Granger straight this morning. (Photos: ABC)

    Sunny Hostin put on her legal hat Thursday morning on The View when she assured guest co-host Lindsey Granger that the U.S. Department of Justice will not "miss" if Attorney General Merrick Garland chooses to prosecute former President Donald Trump.

    In a monologue that seemed eerily similar to a 2019 moment in which Meghan McCain cautioned Democrats against impeaching Trump, Granger warned Garland and DOJ to be careful with their next move. "It needs to be an iron-clad case," she said. "Prosecuting President Trump for the charges that are being discussed — like seditious conspiracy, obstructing official proceedings, conspiracy to defraud the country — these are all real things, but is it iron-clad?"

    "Because if you take that shot and miss," said Granger, "If you take that shot and Trump is like Neo in The Matrix, he's going to have all his allegiant followers telling him he's the one, just like Neo in The Matrix, and you're going to have this result that you don't want! Imagine that: he's going to say, 'This was a witch hunt, and I proved them right.'"

    However, Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, was confident Trump won't be able to dodge consequences so easily. "The Justice Department never shows its hand. The Justice Department, when there's an active investigation, especially of a target, you never know that's happening," she said, noting that DOJ has a policy of not indicting sitting presidents, a label that no longe applies to Trump. "I think it's very clear that they are likely investigating him."

    Hostin added that the bipartisan "January 6 committee has made Merrick Garland's job much easier," should he decide to prosecute Trump. "It's not a political prosecution in that sense, because the American people have seen it," she explained.

    "To your question, Lindsey, I think what's really interesting that a lot of people don't know is the Department of Justice has almost a 97% conviction rate," Hostin continued. "Because the federal prosecutors — I'm not tooting my own horn — are the best of the best in the country. And so they rarely take a shot that misses. So he's not going to be Neo."

    Elsewhere on The View... Joy Behar made the entire panel uncomfortable when she asked Ethan Hawke how he feels about his daughter, Stranger Things star Maya Hawke, releasing a music video "in which she appears naked." Asked Behar, "How do you feel about that, Dad?"

    Like the star he is, Hawke handled the woefully awkward question with grace. "She can do as she pleases, she can tell her truth, she can sing her song!" he said. "The job of young people is to make their art and tell the truth of their life in the time period they're growing up! And make their parents uncomfortable. That is her job. It's our job to listen and respond accordingly. But I'm so proud of her."

    And this is why Joy typically skips celebrity interviews.

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

    TOPICS: Sunny Hostin, ABC, The View, Donald Trump, Lindsey Granger, January 6 Committee hearings, politics, U.S. Capitol Takeover