Sunny Hostin forced to read legal notice on air just minutes after smearing Trump's AG pick

President-elect Donald Trump announced last week that he wants to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland with Florida firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The prospect of a Republican AG willing to play hardball sent a great many Democratic lawmakers and liberal media personalities into fits of frenzy.

Sunny Hostin of Disney's "The View," the co-host who unwittingly helped derail the Harris campaign, handled the news worse than others. Unlike other talking heads, Hostin had to immediately walk back her baseless smears Tuesday — likely out of fear of a crushing defamation lawsuit.

Days after blaming "uneducated white women" and Hispanic men for Trump's landslide victory, Hostin launched into an unhinged rant and characterized Gaetz as a sex offender.

'These are baseless allegations.'

"Within the Department of Justice, you know, you have the sex crimes unit, which is what I was a part of. Child sex crimes and child trafficking. How could you nominate someone with allegations of child trafficking across — or trafficking across state lines and having sex with a 17-year-old?" said the former federal prosecutor. "My understanding further on in the interview, they discuss the fact that once he finds out that she's 17, he stops having sex with her."

Hostin appears to have been referring to Florida attorney Joel Leppard's recent claims about what one of his unnamed clients alleged in a 2017 testimonial.

Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer told ABC News, "These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing."

A source familiar with the DOJ's investigation suggested that case was dropped in part because there were significant doubts on the part of the prosecutors that they could prove that Gaetz actually had relations with the supposed woman or knew of her age.

Just minutes after uncritically regurgitating Leppard's unsubstantiated claims as fact, Hostin was given a legal notice to read and did so with a sullen face:

Matt Gaetz has long denied all allegations, calling the claims "invented" and saying in a statement to ABC News that "this false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism." That DOJ investigation was closed with no charges being brought.

Whoopi Goldberg subsequently announced, "We'll be right back," and the show cut to commercials.

Gaetz responded on X only with the eyes emoji.

Responding to Hostin's required reading of the legal notice, "The Chad Prather Show" host Chad Prather wrote, "Make her do it every day."

Although also an expert in talking nonsense, former Republican Rep. George Santos was less than sympathetic, writing, "I love when ABC humiliates this witch! LOL."

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