Everything Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle Said on Their Volatile The View Interview
Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle stopped by The View on Thursday for a volatile interview that covered everything from “cancel culture” to the impeachment investigation against his dad over Ukraine, to whether or not they will be getting married any time soon.
Here’s everything they said.
On the 2020 election
When asked who he hopes runs against his father Donald Trump for the presidency next year, Trump Jr. said “it doesn’t matter that much” to him.
“I sort of believe that the American people — and again, I understand with full disclaimer, I’m the son of a rich guy from New York — but I spend a lot of time in middle America… and honestly, people are happy,” he said.
“They see the results, they see wages going up. No idea how many democrats come up to me and say, Don, I wish they’d let him do his job. And that’s the problem. The Democratic party has left the working class that they used to represent.”
On political correctness and “cancel culture”
“Look at what’s going on in terms of PC culture,” Trump Jr. said. “This is what I talked about in [his new book, Triggered]… Joy, what do you think about like Dave Chappelle or those guys getting canceled? I mean, you’re a standup comedian.”
Behar and Whoopi Goldberg pointed out that Chappelle hasn’t been one of the legions of men to be “canceled” before Trump Jr. continued: “There are leftists out there trying to stop these guys from having free speech, from being funny. Whose side are you on?”
“I’m on the side of free speech and comedy,” Behar told him, “Comedy rules, let the comedians do their thing.”
“You’re not a comedian,” she added.
On “character”
At one point in the interview, Meghan McCain addressed Trump Jr., asking him if all of the “pain” his family has caused people, like Khizr and Ghazala Khan, makes him “feel good.” The Khans, whose son was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention about then-candidate Trump’s policies. Trump later ridiculed them, which garnered backlash.
“Mr. Trump, a lot of Americans in politics miss character, and a lot of people miss the soul of this country,” McCain said. “You and your family have hurt a lot of people and put a lot of people through a lot of pain, including the Khan family, who is a Gold Star family that I think should be respected for the loss of their son. Does all of this make you feel good?”
“I don’t think any of that makes me feel good, but I do think we got into this because we wanted to do what’s right in America,” he responded.
“My father has been working tirelessly to bring back the American Dream, who’ve watched politicians, with no business experience, send that American Dream abroad to countries that hate our guts,” he continued. “He’s brought jobs back, he’s created unprecedented levels of unemployment numbers for African-Americans, or Hispanic Americans.”
“For women, all-time high startup businesses, so I understand that he’s controversial, I understand that he’s offended a lot of people, but I also understand he took on the establishment and that’s the premier sin in American politics these days to do that,” he continued, speaking of his father.
Trump Jr. went on: “He does a lot with Gold Star families. He calls a lot of those Gold Star families. He has a lot of care for those people. When he’s under attack by the same people, when he’s under attack by the establishment. The reality is this: he’s a counterpuncher. And as a conservative, I would have hoped that you would appreciate that conservatives haven’t been known for fighting back for a very long time. They’ve seen a ground to the liberals and the liberal elite for decades by not actually fighting back, so I understand, we can keep going back to character.”
Trump Jr. added that “it hasn’t exactly always been peaches and cream for us either,” but he does find his father’s policies to be “worth it” when he travels “around the country, and I see people who are affected by these policies, who are getting to live their American Dream again, who are seeing wage growth for the lowest levels go up. When I see it happening with those people and they tell me their stories, how they’re so happy that they voted for my father, that they’re so happy that he actually had the guts to take on those people to not just accept the status quo, to not just accept that.”
On Trump’s attacks against John McCain
“They did have differences, I agree with that,” Trump Jr. said after Hostin said that Meghan “didn’t appreciate” Trump’s repeated attacks against her father John McCain.
“And again, I’m sorry for the loss, I think you lost your aunt last night, so I do apologize for that as well,” he said, addressing Meghan.
On tweeting the name of the White House whistleblower
Later in the interview, the View hosts called out Trump Jr. for tweeting an article that included the identity of the whistleblower whose complaint led to the current impeachment hearings against Trump.
“Why did you want to release that name?” Abby Huntsman asked Trump Jr.
“I think the reality of the answer is, the whistleblower’s name was on a little website called the Drudge Report a couple of days ago. It was in Real Clear Politics,” he replied.
“I literally quote tweeted an article that had the guy’s name in the title of the article,” he continued, saying that “it’s not a level playing field in terms of outrage. We do live in an outrage culture.”
Several of the View hosts pointed out that the whistleblower had wished to remain anonymous, and asked Trump Jr. if he found it inappropriate for the president’s son to publicly share their identity.
But Trump Jr. maintained his position: “I’m a private citizen putting this out there.”
“If everyone in this room would have read it, I don’t see any difference whatsoever,” he continued. “It seems to me, and again my point of view on this, it seems to me that everyone is outraged that his name is out there because now people are saying, okay, he’s tied to Joe Biden while Joe Biden was working in the White House. He has ties to Brennan who’s been leading the cabal on Trump. It’s not, you know, let’s be honest about what it is.”
The View hosts noted that it’s a federal crime to out a whistleblower.
“Under US Code 1505, it is a crime,” Sunny Hostin said, with Trump Jr. saying back, “It’s not accurate.”
Guilfoyle was asked her point of view as a lawyer, and she defended her boyfriend by saying it wasn’t a federal crime for Trump Jr. to tweet the identity because he wasn’t the first person to do so. When asked if she had talked with Trump Jr. about the potential repercussions before he sent the tweet, she said “no, not prior to.”
“After, I said, Oh, what happened?” Guilfoyle said. “Well, they’re saying that I released this and I outed, but if you look at the facts and the facts are that the name was out there, I’m not saying, okay, I understand what you’re saying, that perhaps, okay, wasn’t the most prudent decision to retweet an article, but I want to tell you something. We’ve talked about transparency. The president of the United States released the transcript of exactly what happened in that phone call. The whistleblower is giving his opinion or her opinion of what transpired.”
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When Hostin asked Trump Jr. if he regretted sending the tweet, he said he did not.
“You know, I don’t think I should have to forego my first amendment rights. I didn’t want to create hysteria. If I’m reading an article, and be like, Oh, the names out there. I didn’t even realize that there’s been some sort of secret,” he said.
“I don’t regret doing it,” he continued. “No, I don’t think I should have to forego my first amendment rights. It’s out there. I read it in an article. I’ve been reading it for a week. I saw it on the Drudge Report. This is not some secret. But then to say, because it’s Donald Trump Jr.”
On Joe Biden and Hunter Biden
Trump Jr. didn’t waste an opportunity to take a shot at Joe Biden‘s son Hunter, and accused him of using his father’s political platform as vice president for his own personal gain.
“I get that I’m the son of a rich guy from New York,” Trump Jr. said. “I understand that. My father has done a lot, you know, I’ve benefited from that as a Hunter Biden has. The difference is, we did that as a private company. When we got into international politics, the second my father took, you know, won the presidency. He said we will not do new foreign deals going forward. Hunter Biden utilized his father’s vice-presidency to magically end up on a board in Ukraine with a language he doesn’t speak on a business he knows nothing about for $83,000. If I did that, you guys would lose your mind, understandably.”
Hostin pushed back to point out that the Trumps have made millions of dollars off a hotel that was opened in Washington, D.C., in 2018.
“I think according to your father’s financial report, he earned about $40.8 million, just a minute, from his DC hotel in 2018 the Attorney General’s going to hold a $30,000 holiday party at the D.C. hotel,” Hostin said. “A lobbying firm with ties to the Saudi government paid $270,000 to the hotel between October 2016 and March 2017.”
Trump Jr. interjected saying “these are the details that the media always neglects.”
“Yes, we’re in the hotel business. We have been for decades. That’s not a secret. When we take money from a foreign entity in DC, most of it is foreign entities, right?” he said.
“But the government-related foreign entities when they come, we literally stroke a check back to the US treasury. We spend more money on accountants than we can make from this to make sure we’re doing that right. Because we can’t do that. My father gives back his entire salary to the US treasury to be put towards causes. Whether it was alcoholism, whether it was the department of security. We’re literally not making money from any of those foreign governments. We’re giving it back to the treasury.”
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Meanwhile, Guilfoyle chimed in to say, “Thank God [Trump] is president, he knows how to make a buck!”
Later in the interview, when Behar said that Trump seems to be “scared” of Joe Biden, Trump Jr. said, “Joe Biden doesn’t know what state he’s in 50 percent of the time.”
On when they are getting married
When Huntsman asked the couple when they were planning on “tying the knot,” Guilfoyle said, “Oh my God… If he can get the president re-elected!”
“But no, Kimberly’s, Kimberly’s been amazing, she understands this world in a, unfortunately, you know, my world has drastically changed from what I was used to before politics and everything,” Trump Jr. said.
“And to be able to do this stuff, I like to joke on the campaign trail. You know, my big sacrifice for America is having to travel with Kimberly,” he added. “I can’t say that on this take without getting destroyed. But you know, but it’s been amazing to be able to do that and she has such a good grasp of and being able to speak to people. I sort of say, you know when you need a sledgehammer, I’m pretty good. When you need some subtlety and nuance, that’s where she really steps in and does an amazing job.”
