Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro Disagree Over Pence: 'He Sold His Soul to Donald Trump'

Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro found themselves at odds Monday morning during a discussion about Mike Pence, who said Trump was "wrong" to attempt to overturn the election in a recent speech. While Navarro praised Pence for publicly rebuking Trump's Big Lie, Hostin asked why "the bar is so low" for Republicans. "Give me a break," said Hostin. "He is who he has always been. He sold his soul to Donald Trump."

On Friday, Pence spoke before a local chapter of the Federalist Society in Florida and defended his actions on January 6. "President Trump is wrong ... I had no right to overturn the election," he said. "The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

The topic received top billing on The View Monday morning, though the co-hosts were divided as they discussed how much credit to give Pence for speaking out against his former boss. "Look, it took him 13 months, but I applaud him nonetheless," said Navarro (she also said that the RNC "now stands for Republicans with No Cajones" and accused the GOP of being "a cult" that does nothing but "worship at the altar of Trump"). "Mike Pence, as long as Donald Trump controls the Republican Party, which he does right now, is never, ever going to have a political future. So, given that, the least he could try to do is recover a modicum of dignity. But I would say to Mike Pence — if you feel so strongly about this, then instead of speaking in front of the Federalist Society, you should go speak in front of the January 6 committee and tell them what you know."

While Joy Behar agreed that Pence's speech was "valuable," Hostin felt differently. "I don't know that 13 months later you get applause for doing the right thing," she said. "If the bar is that low, my god, where are we?"

PENCE SAYS TRUMP WRONG ABOUT OVERTURNING ELECTION: #TheView co-hosts react after the GOP censured Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger for their work on the Jan. 6 committee and former Vice Pres. Pence spoke out directly criticizing former Pres. Trump. https://t.co/zTKq4qE1YX pic.twitter.com/YDKsRumQGF

— The View (@TheView) February 7, 2022

After some back and forth, during which Sara Haines sided with the "go Pence" camp, Navarro and Hostin renewed their debate. "We should let the folks like Gov. Asa Hutchinson, like Larry Hogan, like Mitt Romney, even Lindsey Graham who had that moment of sanity, we should applaud them for doing the right thing," said Navarro. "You're right, it's a very low bar, but that is where we are."

"The bar's on the ground at this point!" said Hostin. "Well, okay. And some people have to crawl under it like if they were insects," replied Navarro.

"There's nobody more valuable than Mike Pence because you cannot question his conservative credibility," continued Navarro, prompting an eye-roll from Hostin. "Mike Pence is a lifelong ideological conservative, which Donald Trump is not."

"He discriminates against gay people. Is that a conservative value?" asked Hostin, to which Navarro responded that it's a "religious issue", and therefore a conservative one. "You can disagree with him on policy, and that, in fact, proves he's a conservative," said the guest co-host, as Hostin dramatically sipped her coffee. "You're not!"

Elsewhere on The View... The co-hosts got back on the same page when they dinged Stacey Abrames for not wearing a mask in photos with masked school-age children. "I think it was really hypocritical actually, her statement," said Hostin. "First of all, this has nothing to do with Black History Month. The point is, she was not wearing a mask when she's one of those proponents of mask mandates."

The ladies then proceeded to have a laugh at the expense of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was photographed maskless at a LA Rams game last week. "He claims that he holds his breath when he takes [photos] — that's so stupid!" said Navarro, as Hostin agreed that this is a "ridiculous" claim. "How long? For like 20 minutes?" asked Behar. "Even Esther Williams couldn't do that underwater!"

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.