‘The View’s’ Sunny Hostin slams ‘sheer hypocrisy’ of Pompeo’s criticism of Griner swap

Sony Hostin, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” slammed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former President Trump and other Republicans who have critiqued President Biden’s recent prisoner swap deal with Russia.

Co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssah Farah Griffin noted that the Trump administration negotiated the release of 5,000 Taliban members in Afghan prisoners in 2020.

“I think it’s just the sheer hypocrisy of it because I have, and I’ve said it here, always felt, umm, conflicted about negotiating with terrorists because I do think it will encourage a terrorist to grab other Americans,” Hostin said on the daytime talk show on Monday.

Pompeo during an appearance on Fox News on Sunday slammed the Biden administration for releasing convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout for WNBA start Brittney Griner, who had been jailed in Russia for nearly a year.

“The Trump administration was always very clear: We weren’t going to trade bad guys for celebrities because it creates the wrong incentives for the bad guys as we go forward,” Pompeo said. “It’s not good for American national security. It’s not good for people who are traveling across the world.”

Hostin blasted the remarks from Pompeo, which “The View” played clips of during its segment on Monday.

“And I don’t like that Pompeo was saying, ‘you know, you don’t trade terrorists for celebrities.’ She’s a person. She’s a human being. She’s someone that someone is loved and she’s an American. So it’s about Americans, not just celebrity,” Hostin said.

She went on to criticize remarks from Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Trump, who have also spoken out against the swap in recent days.

“So how dare you, former twice impeached, one-term president, say this,” she said. “How dare you? And Adam Kinzinger, I’m a little surprised at you, too.”

Bout had been serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to kill Americans, while Griner had been held in Russia since February on marijuana-related charges.

Critics of the Biden administration, including Trump and Pompeo, said the State Department should have secured the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine who was arrested in Russia in 2018 on espionage charges he denies, instead of Griner.