Yahoo Movies The View star Alyssa Farah Griffin expects former boss Donald Trump will get '5-10 years' in prison
The View star Alyssa Farah Griffin thinks her former boss Donald Trump is going from the White House to prison.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg introduced a Tuesday morning Hot Topics discussion about ABC News audio allegedly detailing Trump appearing to admit to possessing classified documents, and Trump's former White House communications team member offered a bold prediction for his future.
"Short of this judge fundamentally screwing up the case, I don't see how he gets less than 5 to 10 years," the 34-year-old, who also previously worked for Mike Pence from 2017-2019, said as cohost Joy Behar repeated a "lock him up" chant. "He knows the information is classified, he discusses the contents of classified information with people without security clearances, and then acknowledges he can't declassify because he's not president. That's the whole case."
Trump has pled not guilty to the 37 counts, and has denied all charges.
OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES; ABC Alyssa Farah Griffin and Donald Trump; Alyssa Farah Griffin on 'The View'
Griffin's tune changed significantly from her earlier stance on Trump's April indictment on 34 felony charges related to alleged hush money reportedly paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, which she projected on the show wouldn't amount to more than "a fine and probation."
Speaking of the ex-Apprentice host facing another 37 felony counts related to classified documents and obstruction of justice, The View's legal expert Sunny Hostin added that Trump's case was a "cut-and-dry" one.
"He has no defense, which is why I said a couple weeks ago he is ripe for a plea," Hostin added before turning to Griffin. "I think I asked you this a couple of weeks ago. Is he someone who would take a plea? But that plea would have to include jail time."
In the ABC News audio, which The View played on air, Trump is heard saying that he has a "big pile of papers" that are "highly confidential" and "secret" in nature.
"This was done by the military, given to me," he said. "See, as president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't. But this is classified. Isn't that interesting? It's incredible, right?"
After Trump criticized Griffin in a recent Fox News interview, she revealed on The View's June 20 broadcast that she first considered resigning from his administration when she realized she couldn't fix him from the inside.
Fox News; ABC Donald Trump; Alyssa Farah Griffin
"I don't know if it's naive or maybe it was hubris at the time — it's like, one or the other, maybe a weird mix of both. You thought you could make him better, you could convince him of what's right and what's wrong," Griffin said, days after suggesting that she regretted aligning with him during her earlier career. "George Floyd, after his murder and the social justice protests that summer, I was trying to get him to walk back a statement he made about saying 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts.' I was like, 'Surely that's not what you mean. No one thinks we should be shooting people in the public square,' and he essentially said no, that's what I mean, we're not walking it back. That was the moment where I was like, 'Oh, this is not a fixable individual.' That was the first time I almost resigned."
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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