The View will name former Trump White House comms director Alyssa Farah Griffin as the show’s full-time conservative co-host, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Daily Beast, finally filling the vacancy left by Meghan McCain’s dramatic exit last summer.
Farah Griffin will join full-time co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, and Sunny Hostin, as well as rotating co-host Ana Navarro, starting in September when the weekday talk show returns for its 26th season.
The Daily Mail first reported Farah Griffin’s selection on Tuesday afternoon. Farah Griffin did not respond to a request for comment but an ABC spokesperson emailed: “We do not have a co-host announcement to make at this time. Stay tuned.” The show will likely announce her hiring next week, sources told The Daily Beast, as The View wraps up its 25th season before a summer break.
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Farah Griffin was a mainstay in Donald Trump’s administration, initially working as Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary before moving over to a similar role in the Department of Defense, eventually landing in the Trump White House press office. She resigned one month before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots incited by her former boss and thereafter became a fierce critic of the twice-impeached ex-president and his role in pushing blatant lies about the 2020 election.
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Farah Griffin’s positioning as an anti-Trump ex-Trumper ultimately helped land her a role as a political commentator for CNN, where she became a frequent on-air presence, especially during coverage of the Jan. 6 House committee hearings.
But even while contributing to the cable-news giant, Farah Griffin has been a frequent guest co-host for The View over the past year, as the show auditioned various conservative media personalities for the vacant seat.
McCain departed the daytime talk show last summer after four years of seemingly incessant controversy, including on- and off-air beefing with her co-hosts. Even after exiting the ABC family, the one-time Fox News pundit has continued to play a role in View dramatics, often battling with her former colleagues from afar.
Farah Griffin has a far more thoughtful, tempered on-air presence than her predecessor, and she has proven willing to grill her former Trumpworld colleagues on-air, but her involvement with the talk show—and her career rehab overall—has ruffled a few feathers.
Earlier this month, The Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter reported that star comedian Wanda Sykes bailed on a View appearance upon learning that the former Trump flack was set to guest-host that day. “She didn’t want to be part of helping a Trumper launder her reputation,” a View insider said at the time.
And then earlier this week, Confider reported that one CNN star requested that producers not book them for segments alongside Farah Griffin to similarly avoid lending credibility to an ex-Trumper’s career rehab.
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