Donald Trump was ordered to pay out $355 million in his New York civil fraud trial, after being found guilty of inflating his assets in order to get loans from various banks. For “The View” host Sara Haines, this amount was “excessive,” and “slightly” plays into Trump’s narrative that the prosecution was politically motivated.
In his ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron noted that “They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff.”
But, he continued, “Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies. This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief.”
Discussing the subject on Tuesday’s episode of “The View,” Haines admitted that she appreciates seeing Trump face consequences, but doesn’t agree with the size of them.
“So, although I always agree with someone being accountable and held to task — in a little bias, I love seeing Trump held to task because he rarely has been — I do think, and this is not due to any emotion towards Trump, I think the punishment was excessive,” Haines said.
She largely agreed with host Alyssa Farah Griffin that “it’s a victimless crime,” and pointed out that, in another case where a Trump company lied to people — specifically Trump University — the monetary payout was significantly smaller, as he was only order to pay $25 million to those who were scammed.
“My criticism of this is not because I feel any sorrow for Donald Trump. But I do think that he is an instigator of sowing distrust in institutions,” Haines explained. “It’s his one thing. ‘Everyone’s completely kind of against him. It’s a political witch hunt. It’s personal.’ This ruling, to the number it has been held, is slightly playing into the optics that this was political and personal.”
At that, hosts Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg were quick to jump in and point out that the verdict was not actually personal and that, in fact, the number was reached by Trump’s own “paper trail.”
You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.