Co-host of ABC's "The View" Joy Behar attributed the media attacks on a group of Catholic high school boys from Covington, Kentucky—after video surfaced this weekend showing a confrontation between them and an elderly Native American—to the media's dislike of President Donald Trump.
Behar's comment came during the show's opening segment on Tuesday when co-host Whoopi Goldberg mused aloud about why the media had so quickly assumed the boys were antagonizing the Native American.
"Many people admitted they made snap judgement before these facts came in," Goldberg said. "But is it that we just instantly say 'that's what it is' based on what we see in that moment and then have to walk stuff back when it turns out we're wrong? Why do we keep making the same mistakes?"
"Because we're desperate to get Trump out of office," Behar replied, provoking audience laughter.
After the other hosts protested, Behar continued.
"I think that's the reason," she said. "I think the press jumps the gun a lot because we have so much circumstantial evidence against this guy that we're basically hoping that [Trump's former attorney Michael] Cohen has the goods, and what have you. It's wishful thinking."
Controversy arose this weekend after a video appeared on social media showing high school junior Nick Sandmann apparently smirking and standing in front of Nathan Phillips, a Native American, as Phillips plays a drum and sings a traditional song. Sandmann is wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat. Around Sandman, a group of high school boys who had just been at the March for Life dance and sing along to the Native American's song.
Many groups immediately decried the boys—including their own high school and their diocese—and accused them of taunting the elderly man, but later video footage revealed a different story and poked holes in Phillips' story. A group of Black Hebrew Israelites had riled up the boys and the Native Americans over the course of an hour and a half, as the two groups stood outside the Lincoln Memorial.
Both Sandmann and Phillips claim they were trying to diffuse the tension. Phillips initially, before the additional video footage came out, decried the boys' actions and accused Sandmann of blocking his path as he tried to keep moving.
Sandmann denied he blocked Phillips' path or that any of the students said anything hateful.
"I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation," Sandmann said in a statement.