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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin declared on Tuesday that 74 million Americans have been "brainwashed" by President Trump and a misinformation campaign.
The ABC News daytime talk show was in the midst of a conversation about whether or not Trump will pardon himself when Hostin made the claim. Sources with knowledge of the process say Trump is not expected to grant protective pardons for any members of his family, nor is he expected to attempt to issue a pardon for himself – but that didn’t stop "The View" from speculating.
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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin declared on Tuesday that 74 million Americans who voted for President Trump have been "brainwashed." (Photo by Jenny Anderson/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)
"Don’t you think that if he pardons himself… that admits that he’s guilty and then, when the impeachment in the Senate comes up, what are they supposed to do with that? They have to convict him. He, himself, is saying, ‘I’m guilty,’" co-host Joy Behar said.
Hostin agreed with Behar’s theory but feels it won’t matter when it’s time for the president to make a decision.
"His defense, I think, is going to be, ‘Well this is a witch hunt, this is a witch hunt against me, so of course I have to try to pardon myself cause every is against me,’" Hostin said. "And guess what? 74 million people are going to believe that because they’ve been brainwashed, Joy. I really believe that they have brainwashed by this misinformation campaign over the past four years."
The number 74 million is a reference to the number of Americans who voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Earlier on Tuesday, Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove cautioned Trump to be "very careful" when deciding who to pardon before leaving office.
"[Issuing pardons is] one of the unlimited powers in the Constitution granted to the president, and presidents should be very careful of exercising unlimited power," the Fox News contributor said on "America’s Newsroom" on Tuesday.
Rove argued pardons can leave either a "good taste" or "bad taste" in the mouths of the American people.
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"Good pardons tend to be pardons that are granted because somebody has done either been the victim of an injustice in the legal system, or because they’ve done something in their life since they violated the law that is worthy of pardoning them for their previous crimes," Rove told Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer.
Trump has until Wednesday at noon to issue pardons and commutations. He is expected to issue between 50 and 100 commutations and pardons before leaving office, two sources familiar with the list told Fox News.
Fox News’ John Roberts, Roman Chiarello, Kristin Fisher and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.