As Donald Trump continues to hand out pardons to convicted criminals, the president noted on Monday that he would consider pardoning disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, depending on the circumstances. And with that admission, “The View” host Joy Behar is pretty sure that Trump would even pardon a known serial killer.
To kick off Tuesday’s Hot Topics, the ABC hosts dug in on Trump’s recent pardons, including that of Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were charged by the first Trump administration with tax and bank fraud and later convicted. For host Sara Haines, it flew in the face of Trump’s rage against a “two-tiered” justice system.
“The presidential pardon power, as Alyssa knows, is just, it’s such a significant, significant power,” host Sunny Hostin added. “It should be used with purpose and intentionality.”
“I’m just sort of disgusted by what I’ve seen. Of course presidents have been pardoning people for a long time, but he pardoned 1,500 people and most of them were January 6 insurrectionists that assaulted police officers,” she continued.
At that, Behar chimed in, suggesting who Trump’s next pardon might be: “The guy would pardon Jack the Ripper if he was alive.”
She even suggested that someone should tell Trump that the infamous serial killer is still around, just to see what happens. But, she also joked that Trump’s pardons are rendering lawyers unnecessary.
“All you have to do is get a pardon from him, you don’t even have to get a lawyer to defend you anymore,” she said.
Discussing the idea of Trump potentially pardoning Diddy, who is currently on trial for sex crimes and racketeering, the hosts were both disgusted and baffled. Farah Griffin was quick to point out that pardons usually come in cases where an argument can be made that the person on trial isn’t getting a fair shake.
“There’s not really two sides to Diddy,” she said. “I don’t know anyone in public life who’s like, ‘Oh no, he’s a good guy and he’s getting a bad deal here.’”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
