The View Debates Washington Examiner Posting Kellyanne Conway Call: ‘It’s Why the Media Gets This Bad Rap’

The View co-hosts Sunny Hostin, Abby Huntsman, and Meghan McCain criticized the Washington Examiner for publishing an alleged “off the record” phone call from Kellyanne Conway, Friday, where the counselor to President Donald Trump berated and seemingly threatened an Examiner reporter.

During a debate between the co-hosts on the phone call, Hostin claimed that she was bothered that the Washington Examiner released an “off the record” conversation to the public.

“I have a problem with the reporter then divulging this. And that’s why the media gets this bad wrap, because it’s not legally binding this off the record, but it’s culturally binding. I don’t like that,” she expressed.

The Washington Examiner released the phone call because they did not consider it to be off the record, since Conway’s assistant Tom Joannou was the one who asked for his conversation to be off record before passing the phone over to Conway for a separate conversation.

Huntsman agreed with Hostin’s criticism of the Washington Examiner, though observed, “If you are content with your job and your life right now, you are not sounding like this on a phone call. You are not sounding like this on a phone call.”

McCain also agreed that the call should not have been released, remarking, “Off the record is sacred. Again, as a child of a politician, I literally grew up around journalists. I have known Jake Tapper… John Dickerson officiated my wedding, and he’s a famous political journalist. Martha Raddatz. These are people I’ve known since I can remember being a child, and these are people, there are real journalists out there that off the record means off the freaking record, and there is a symbiotic relationship between all political principles and journalists, that’s how it works, because you feed off each other.”

“The ultimate breakdown has started happening because we are now saying all journalists are the enemy of the people, which I do blame President Trump. I also blame the media,” she continued. “I think the sacred institution between journalists and principals is something that we have seen break down completely and burn to the ground in the past two years, and it’s something that should be brought back. I’m just saying that a journalist officiated my wedding. I’m just saying it wasn’t always like this, and I think the point you’re all trying to make is the breakdown is happening.”

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg disagreed with their fellow co-hosts — with Goldberg arguing that Conway was being a bully, “wasn’t going to keep it off the record” herself, and had no right to demand that a reporter stop reporting on her husband considering he’s a public figure.

Behar noted that “it’s interesting” the report came from the Washington Examiner, a conservative publication, and Hostin agreed, asking, “Do you think that Kellyanne felt a certain amount of safety with the Washington Examiner? Do you think she thought that the Washington Examiner would never do that?”

Goldberg responded, “Not the way she started the conversation, no. She is a bit of a bully, and she was bullying somebody who she thought was going to back up, and it’s sacrosanct when they say ‘off the record’, but the truth of the matter is she wasn’t going to keep it off the record. Kellyanne wasn’t going to keep it off the record. And when you bully people, people are now starting to go, you know what, I used to have respect for you or whatever, but now I don’t have any respect for you and I’m pushing this button… They now have to remember that people can only be pushed a certain amount before they turn around and bite you like baby shark.”

Behar also observed, “I like the way she says, ‘He gets his power through me.’ Touchy, touchy. The reason that the reporter’s interested in the relationship is because of remarks like that… She’s taking him on and, you know, Conway hates Trump more than I do. So that’s news. That’s news, if you are married to somebody who is so diametrically opposed to your position.”

Hostin added, “And when she says, ‘He gets his power from me,’ he is a fantastic attorney in his own right. I mean, he’s argued cases in front of the Supreme Court successfully, you know. He got, I think, an 8-0 opinion that was written by Justice Scalia, and he has been a lifelong Republican as well. So that suggestion that he’s sort of someone who doesn’t have his own merit, I think is ridiculous.”

McCain concluded the discussion by clarifying to viewers, “These kind of phone calls are highly unusual… I would like to make the difference that this is very unique to the Trump administration. It’s unique to his henchpeople. And also, you don’t want us to talk about your marriage, stop doing dual interviews together, and making yourselves the story every single day, which you and your husband are doing on an absolute constant basis… They’re addicted to the press, both of them.”