The View's Sunny Hostin dubs Donald Trump a 'mob boss': 'He's extorting and looting the federal g...

The legal expert claimed that American taxpayers are giving &34;Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford." The View's Sunny Hostin dub

The legal expert claimed that American taxpayers are giving "Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford."

The View's Sunny Hostin dubs Donald Trump a 'mob boss': 'He's extorting and looting the federal government'

The legal expert claimed that American taxpayers are giving "Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford."

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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October 22, 2025 1:43 p.m. ET

President Donald Trump; Sunny Hostin. Credit:

Anna Moneymaker/Getty; ABC

Sunny Hostin believes Donald Trump is more of a mob boss than a president. **

On Wednesday's episode of *The View*, Hostin, the show's legal expert, said the Republican politician and former reality star was "extorting and looting the federal government." Her comment follows Trump's recent admission that he "could be" seeking $230 million in compensation from his own Justice Department for its previous investigations into him. However, Trump noted that he wasn't familiar with the specifics and would donate the money to charity. **

"I think we need to speak plainly to people and I think we need to call it what it is: This is giving mob boss," Hostin began. "Right? That's what this is. He is extorting and looting the federal government in my view. And he's extorting and looting the federal government that he's already extorting and looting, because as you mentioned since 2017, his family has made $3.4 billion dollars."

Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin on 'The View'.

Hostin went on to reference Trump being caught on a hot mic earlier this month telling Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto that he'd have his son Eric call him. Hostin noted that she believed their conversation was "probably about a business deal" between both parties. **

"What else? How about that $400 million plane from Qatar? His 'private plane,'" she said, making air quotes. "How about the fact that our tax dollars now — if he gets that $230 million dollars — is going to be used to renovate a White House which, by the way, he never intends to leave."

Hostin continued, "So that's what this is. This is about a mob boss extorting the government for his own personal gratitude and enrichment, and we are basically, as taxpayers, providing Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford."

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Even *The View*'s Republican panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin acknowledged that the move was "not giving America First" like Trump promised. "I'm honestly just frustrated at this point," she said. "I find the whole thing exhausting. I get why people hate politicians, they hate Washington."**

Griffin pointed out that the "economy is not doing well" right now. **

"There are more people out of work than there are jobs available right now," she said. "Unemployment is too high. Americans right now are falling behind on auto-loan payments. Sellers in the U.S. housing market outnumber buyers right now. And don't get me started on the farmers right now who have their crops that they invested money in growing that have nowhere to sell them because of Trump's tariffs."

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Essentially, Griffin said, it's the antithesis of why many people in her family and close to her voted for Trump in 2024. **

"They wanted to feel like this was focusing on the struggling American people because it is really hard to get ahead right now. This is the exact opposite of that," she said. "You're using taxpayer dollars to enrich yourself, or maybe you're giving it to charity or the White House? Focus on the people. It's never been harder to get ahead than it is right now and it just feels completely out of touch."

Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines on 'The View'.

Whoopi Goldberg admitted that she didn't know if Trump cared about the people who voted for him and "were counting on him to make it better." She also reiterated her claim that Republicans and Democrats should stop accepting their paychecks during the ongoing government shutdown. **

"You just need to stop because you're not… the American people, man, you better pay attention to what they're saying," she said. "They're not playing with you. Seven million people got up out of their house and walked around and said, 'We not happy, we not happy, we not happy.' That's a lot of 'we not happy'!"

*The View *airs weekdays on ABC.

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