CNN political commentator Van Jones reportedly felt ambushed by ABC’s The View’s co-hosts after an appearance on the show. Jones recently joined Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro to discuss his upcoming documentary, produced with Meghan McCain, The Reunited States.
Jones has been called out numerous times for his public political flip-flopping, something which The View hosts make a point of mentioning, calling him a "political opportunist." Hostin brought up a quote that Jones made in favor of Donald Trump which evidently upset people in the Black community.
"Donald Trump -- and I get beat up by liberals every time I say this, but I'm gonna keep saying it -- he's done good stuff for the Black community, opportunity zone stuff, Black college stuff," Jones was previously quoted as saying. After reading Jones’ words back to him (in the video below), Hostin proceeded to say the Black community doesn’t trust him anymore.
In retaliation, Jones clarified his statement saying Trump’s good deeds are overlooked due to the list of horrible things he has done and accused the media of releasing quotes without context.
Jones was not particularly happy with the harsh critiques. A source reportedly told Page Six that Van Jones was “not expecting to be ambushed,” and that the way the daytime show hosts asked him questions was off-putting.
“[Van] expected a friendly environment, and I don’t think Meghan even knew there was anything controversial about him,” the source said. “It was shocking how intolerant they were.”
An insider for The View refuted Jones’ attempt at a pity party, revealing that producers informed him that Ana and Sunny were planning to question him about his political controversy and his relationship with the former POTUS.
“It’s unfortunate that instead of addressing the very real distrust of him within the black community, Van chooses to attack two women of color via social media, hiding behind the guise of ‘unity,'” the source said. “Van is taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook, whom he called the ‘uniter-in-chief’ in 2018.”
Check out the clip in question below.
