'The View' sees Whoopi Goldberg celebrate 64th birthday by discussing Trump’s impeachment hearing and sharing favorite things
Today’s episode of ‘The View’ on ABC started with the birthday celebrations of Whoopi Goldberg who turned 64 November 13. “Speaking of things that I got a big kick out of on my birthday,” said Goldberg, “Was the public impeachment hearings starting today.”
On day one of the hearings, Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, opened with how the investigation is looking at two impeachable offenses -- abuse of power, for attempting to coerce Ukraine into investigating Trump's political rivals, and obstruction of Congress, for his refusal to cooperate with the impeachment investigation.
William B. Taylor Jr., acting ambassador to Ukraine, testified about a July phone call between President Donald Trump and U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, that was overheard by a member of Taylor Jr.’s staff in which Trump purportedly asked about “the investigations.”
The conversation, per a Washington Post report, was said to have occurred July 26, a day after Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden at a time when U.S. military aid to Ukraine was being withheld.
Democrat congressman Peter Welch, during the hearings, quipped, “I would be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify. President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there.”
He further said the president had crossed a clear line in his conduct regarding Ukraine, despite Republican protests that the conduct at issue was not that serious. On ‘The View’, Goldberg noted both the Republicans and the Democrats had different “spins” on the hearing. She asked her other co-hosts if day one of the hearings had cleared anything up about the accusations.
Joy Behar, on the show, said, “Both of these guys -- Taylor and Welch -- yesterday, neither one of them have even met Trump; have not had direct contact with him. But Trump won’t let the people who have had direct knowledge of what happened in the conversation come on.”
She added, “The real problem is, for me, for Trump is that they would like to say, ‘He did it. He tried to extort and bribe the Ukranian president for a favor, but so what? It’s not impeachable. It’s not a crime.’ But Trump will not allow them to say that because he had a quote-unquote perfect call and everything is perfect -- he did nothing wrong.”
She observed that the Republicans are between a rock and a hard place and don’t know what to do. Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “I just saw so much anger and vitriol coming from the Republican side, especially directed at Taylor," adding that he was both a patriot and one of the most experienced diplomats in the country.
"That is someone I think is unassailable and unimpeachable," Hostin said about Taylor. She felt attacking such a stellar witness without any reason was not right. She also said attacking the notion of bribery was odd because bribery is an offense.
Abby Huntsman further noted that growing up in a Republican household, she had a problem with how the Republicans were behaving. "At least admit that what [Trump] did was wrong," she said.
Goldberg celebrated her birthday by sharing with the audience her favorite things. Those included the book 'The Fire Is Upon Us' by Nicholas Buccola, a cooking product called "Emeril Everyday Pressure Air Fryer" and a wellness retreat called 'Fit Farm' in Nashville that is full of fun activities.
'The View' airs every day at 2 p.m. ET on ABC.