‘View’ Star Alyssa Farah Griffin Confronts Tim Walz, Says He ‘Misleaded’ With Debate Response

The view co-host and former Donald Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin gently confronted Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz about his performance during the 2024 vice presidential debate against JD Vance.

Walz was criticized after the October 1 debate for failing to respond about allegedly misspeaking about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The viewGriffin raised the controversy when the 60-year-old Minnesota governor sat down Monday for his first interview on the Hot Topics desk.

“You’ve been asked this before, but I want to ask it this way, about a series of incorrect statements you’ve made about your previous military record and the trips you’ve been on. I want to be unequivocal: No one lies as much as Donald Trump, nothing you’ve lied to is on the same level, but in a time when there is so much untruth in our politics, so many lies, there can be no gray area?” Griffin, 35, asked the candidate. “And how would you convey to voters who may be concerned that there is a trust issue?”

Walz warned that it is important to “exercise caution” when discussing the issue raised by Griffin.

“I think people separate that from a pathological liar like Donald Trump,” he added. “I think it’s important, we’re careful in how we speak. Something for me, being a teacher, being a coach, I speak from the heart. I speak honestly, I speak in the moment. In preparation for the debate, I told my team that I felt in disadvantage in a debate because I tend to just answer the question as quickly as possible.”

Griffin interrupted, laughing as he said, “That’s never what you do in a debate,” before Walz finished.

“I think the public sees that, just the enormous amount of misinformation that spreads, it’s important to be detailed,” he said, without directly addressing the issue. “My tendency is to just answer the question you ask as quickly as possible.” (Weekly entertainment has reached out to the Walz team for further comment.)

The co-hosts took a break after Walz’s response, with Whoopi Goldberg finally signaling that the show would have to go into a commercial break.

Later during the interview, Walz refused to answer a light-hearted question from panelist Sara Haines, who asked him to say the first thing that came to mind when he heard golf legend Arnold Palmer’s name, after Trump referenced to the athlete’s genitals during a recent campaign event.

Walz’s appearance was the latest in a growing list of notable political guests at the The view in recent months, with figures including President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris, Chris Christie and Hillary Clinton all sitting with co-hosts at the Hot Topics table in recent episodes.

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Earlier this year, after Harris announced Walz as her running mate, Griffin criticized the pick as a weaker alternative to Harris selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her vice president.

After calling Harris’ decision “an extraordinary missed opportunity,” Griffin cited Walz’s previous comments about left-wing politics as “radioactive to undecided voters.” Still, she also praised Walz as a “strong Midwest messenger” and highlighted his service in the National Guard, while predicting he would be an “effective replacement in swing states” in the Midwest.

Following Walz’s debate against Trump’s vice presidential pick in early October, The view the co-hosts praised the Democratic politician’s performance while criticizing Vance for what they saw as ill-informed criticism after he questioned what Harris accomplished during her four-year tenure as vice president. Sunny Hostin, who skipped Walz’s appearance on Monday because she was “traveling,” Goldberg noted earlier in the episode, even previously questioned whether Vance has ever “taken civics classes,” while Goldberg reminded him that Harris is “not the president.” ”

The view airs weekdays at 11am ET/10am PT on ABC.