Sunny Hostin claims Nikki Haley being 'inauthentic' while tearing up over husband deployed overseas
'The View' co-host Sunny Hostin claimed Nikki Haley was being ‘inauthentic’ while tearing up over her husband, Michael, who was deployed overseas in 2023 for a year, and said she didn't feel it was a real moment for Haley.
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin said Wednesday in a stunningly personal attack that she "doesn't trust" that GOP presidential candidate Haley misses her husband while he's overseas and said Haley was being "inauthentic" when she became choked up over his absence.
The ABC talk show played video of Haley getting choked up while speaking to a crowd about her husband, Michael, who was deployed to Djibouti in 2023 as part of the South Carolina Army National Guard. Haley's voice started to shake as she said, "I wish Michael was here today. And I wish our children and I could see him tonight, but we can’t."
Co-host Sara Haines appreciated Haley's "raw emotion," but Hostin argued Haley had been "inauthentic from day one."
After criticizing some of Haley's statements about former President Donald Trump, Hostin reiterated that she was also specifically referring to the moment where Haley got emotional while speaking about her husband, and said she didn't think it was real.
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin said she didn't believe GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was being "authentic" during a speech where she got choked up talking about her husband, who serves overseas. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
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"I think that there's something that military families go through. I come from a military family as many of us do, and I don’t trust her authenticity," Hostin said.
Haines, in an attempt to relate the comments more directly to Hostin's life, said, "But you trust that if your husband was gone and your kids were missing him, she was saying, ‘I wish my kids could see him tonight,’ you know how that feels?"
"No, I didn't feel that it was authentic, and I didn't trust it," Hostin responded. Her co-hosts disagreed, with Joy Behar saying it was a "real moment."
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, joined by her husband Michael, heads to the State House to be sworn in after the Inaugural Prayer service held at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 14, 2015. (Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"First of all, I thought it was a real moment because I think what you think, that she misses her husband," Behar said, referring to Haines. Hostin conceded, "I guess I have a dark heart."
"On this particular topic, you do," Behar told Hostin.
The Haley campaign said Hostin's remarks showed "what's wrong with American politics today."
"Who knew that Donald Trump and Sunny Hostin would join forces to trash military service members and their families?" Haley spokeswoman AnnMarie Graham-Barnes told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Reached for comment, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, "Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley and her campaign still cannot name one state she can win, even after taking in Democrat money and being the candidate of choice for Never Trumpers and those afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome."
Behar slammed Trump for his past remarks on the military and said, "He’s vicious to the military." Trump recently took aim at Haley and questioned where Haley's husband was during a campaign rally.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said she understood Hostin's point and wished Haley felt that "compassion" when Trump was attacking others.
"It seemed that she all of a sudden was offended by what Donald Trump said about military families, because it happened to her family. And there are people that generally have empathy even if something doesn’t happen to themselves, but she didn’t have that," Hostin added. "The other thing is, her approval ratings went up when her husband was attacked and she stood up for him, and so I read into that moment, ‘if I now throw in a little tear, my approval ratings will go up again’… that’s how I read that moment."
Nikki Haley hosts a rally in Conway, South Carolina, on Jan. 28 as part of her swing in the state leading up to its primary. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin pushed back and said, "For those of us that have been to war zones, when you think of someone you love being there, you don’t need to fake it, that is genuine."
Hostin has repeatedly attacked Haley throughout the former South Carolina governor's campaign and once claimed Haley was a "hypocrite" and a "chameleon" for not going by her first name, suggesting she was trying to hide her Indian heritage. Haley, whose real first name is Nimrata, has gone by "Nikki" since childhood. Hostin's real first name is Asunción.
In spite of her vehement opposition to Trump, she recently questioned why women were supporting Haley at all and has repeatedly scolded Farah Griffin for backing her.
"I don’t understand why everyone is backing Nikki Haley, especially women. I remember when Hillary Clinton was running, there was a lot of talk about, ‘I don’t vote for someone just because she has a vagina.’ Well, last I checked Nikki Haley has one, too," Hostin said last month.