The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin was slammed by viewers on Monday after she referred to former President Donald Trump – whom she used to work for during his time in the White House – as a ‘mob boss’.
Alyssa, 34, came under furious fire online in the wake of her comments, which she made during a panel discussion against the latest indictment that has been filed against Trump.
The panelist – who worked both as Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications and as his assistant back in 2020 – was quick to hit out at the former President, claiming that he ‘operates like a mob boss’ and that he ‘gets the little guys to do his dirty work’.
Her comments came during a heated debate among the co-hosts about the latest developments in the classified documents probe of Trump – who has been accused of conspiring with two employees, Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta, to delete server footage of boxes of classified material at his private Florida club Mar-a-Lago.
But it was Alyssa who ended up facing a barrage of criticism – with viewers accusing her of hypocrisy for voicing such negative views about her former boss, despite previously speaking out in support of him during her time at the White House.
Not impressed: The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin was slammed by fans of the show on Monday
Opposite opinions: Sunny Hostin (left) usually clashes with Alyssa when it comes to politics
Having a laugh: Alyssa was the White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to President Donald Trump in 2020
The controversial moment took place during the first half of Monday morning’s show, when co-host Sunny Hostin predicted that Oliveira will ‘sing like a canary’ during his court appearance in order to avoid a prison sentence.
‘Because once you’re faced with an indictment, a federal indictment, even if it’s one charge, that’s up to 10 to 20 years in prison, and he ain’t going to spend 10 to 20 years in prison for Donald Trump,’ she explained.
‘Donald Trump may not testify, and Mr. Nauta who was the guy who was, like, “I’m not doing that”.
‘Maybe he’s not going to become a defendant, but this guy is going to do this and say, “he told me to erase everything, and I didn’t erase it. I didn’t have anything to do with it”.’
‘I used to love as a prosecutor, those weak canaries. Those weak canaries, they sing real, real well,’ Sunny, 54, added.
However, Alyssa didn’t necessarily agree and chimed in: ‘I’m not sure that I think Mr. Oliveira is going to end up breaking with Trump and severing, and I don’ think Walt Nauta necessarily is because [Trump] is paying their legal bills.
‘Donald Trump operates like a mob boss, he’s done this throughout his career… Michael Cohen has spoken to this. He pays for people’s legal bills to the tune of $200,000 to try to keep them loyal to him,’ Alyssa claimed.
In court: Carlos de Oliveira pictured leaving court in Miami on July 31
‘This is the guy that’s, like, a property manager at Mar-a-Lago, a pretty low-level gentleman who he was like, “I don’t know. He was my boss and he asked me to do it.” I would encourage him [to] break because you are facing federal prison, but he’s currently having his lawyer paid for by Trump.’
Alyssa continued by recalling another former White House employee, Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified in front of the January 6 committee back in December 2022 that she felt pressure from Trump’s inner circle to not cooperate with lawmakers who were investigating the US Capitol riot.
‘I’ll remind you, my friend Cassidy Hutchinson didn’t feel like she could tell the truth when she had a Trump-paid-for attorney,’ Alyssa went on.
Speaking out: Alyssa referred to her former boss Trump as a ‘mob boss’ during Monday’s episode
Topic of the day: The View panel were discussing the new indictment filed against Trump
Sunny’s thoughts: Mother-of-two Sunny had a lot to say on the subject and did not hold back
‘It was only when she was able to get her own that she’s like, “These are the questions you need to ask me, I wanna answer this, I wanna tell you.” It’s textbook Donald Trump!’
But Sunny still insisted that she thinks Oliveira will ‘sing like a little weak canary’, to which Alyssa responded: ‘I think you can’t forget because he has the little guys do his dirty work. You’ve got to pay your legal bills, $10,000 a month, $20,000 a month…’
Viewers tuning in at home were not impressed with Alyssa’s comments at all and were quick to remind her that she used to work for Trump.
Back in September 2017, Alyssa was appointed Special Assistant to the President and Press Secretary to Vice President Mike Pence.
In September 2019, it was announced that she would become Press Secretary for the United States Department of Defense, after the role had been vacant for nearly a year. She was also appointed Director of Media Affairs.
She joined the White House Office as the White House Director of Strategic Communications on April 7, 2020, but by December 3, she had resigned from the role, with it effective the following day.
The day before the January 2021 United States Capitol attack, Alyssa publicly condemned Trump supporters for harassing Senator Mitt Romney. She denounced the attack, and days later, blamed Trump for inciting the insurrection and suggested that he should resign.
‘Every time Alyssa refers to Trump as a “mob boss” I have to laugh. She chose to work for him knowing full well who Trump was #theview,’ one person wrote.
Another posted: ‘I cannot hear anything Alyssa says. She worked for Trump and I just cannot take her serious. #TheView,’ and a third asked: ‘Why does AFG speak like she’s an authority on everything? #TheView.’
A fourth person fumed: ‘Cassidy Hutchinson is NOT your friend, lying name dropping Alyssa. I am REALLY offended you said that. Maybe WAS your friend when ya’ll worked for Trump. #TheView.’
Having their say: Fans of the show slammed Alyssa on Twitter while tuning in
Unimpressed: Viewers were quick to remind Alyssa that she used to be ‘loyal’ to Trump
Not having it: Another fan of the show was struggling to listen to what Alyssa had to say
Bac then: Alyssa pictured briefing the press on the department’s COVID-19 response efforts back in March 2020
Former role: Alyssa also worked as Press Secretary to Vice President Mike Pence
Someone else mocked her and said: ‘What is with Alyssa and her imaginary friends today? #TheView.’
A different viewer posted: ‘Alyssa yet again, I’m not buying you phony negative comments against your former boss #DonaldTrump !!! You never should’ve worked for him! You were loyal to him for a long time… #TheView.’
Earlier this month on The View, she confirmed that she would not be voting for Trump or Joe Biden in any upcoming elections – which led to a clash with Sunny, after she accused her of ‘wasting’ her vote.
Oliveira arrived at federal court in Miami on Monday to face conspiracy charges related to the classified documents probe of former President Trump.
The 56-year-old walked into court for a hearing after his name appeared in a superseding indictment that accused him, Trump, and fellow aide Walt Nauta in conspiring to delete server footage of boxes of material at the private Florida club.
Following Monday’s hearing, Oliveira was released on $100,000 bail and did not enter a plea.
His lawyer, John Irving, called it ‘unfortunate’ that the Justice Department had charged his client and said it was time for prosecutors to ‘put their money where their mouth is.’
A superseding indictment prosecutors filed last week accused him of conspiring to delete security footage of boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago after a grand jury subpoena sought their return.