“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin sharply criticized President Trump on Thursday for tweets the president wrote falsely accusing Democrats of inflating death toll following the devastation caused by two hurricanes last year.
Fellow co-host Whoopi Goldberg read the two tweets posted by Trump, in which he said estimates that nearly 3,000 Americans died in the aftermath of hurricanes Maria and Irma were intended to reflect poorly on him.
{mosads}”So if you lost someone, how would you feel?” Goldberg asked. “If you lost someone in Puerto Rico, and this person says ‘it’s not from the hurricane.’ It can’t make you feel good.”
“Well, I think even if you haven’t lost someone in Puerto Rico, if you’re just an American citizen, if you’re just a human, if you have any empathy for anyone else, you should feel that this is grotesque,” Hostin replied.
“A true leader would offer his condolences to the people of Puerto Rico. A true leader would offer his condolences to United States citizens,” she added, “and vow to never let something like that happen again.”
Hostin continued, stating that she believed his statements Thursday made Trump an “illegitimate” president.”
Hostin’s comments come amid bipartisan pushback after Trump wrote that Democrats inflated the nearly 3,000-person death count in order “to make [him] look bad.”
“If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!” he wrote Thursday.
His remarks were sharply criticized by Democrats and some Republicans, including Trump-endorsed Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ron DeSantis, who said in a statement that he does not “believe any loss of life has been inflated.”
“Ron DeSantis is committed to standing with the Puerto Rican community, especially after such a tragic loss of life,” his campaign said in a statement.