Behar Comments On Trump’s Interaction With John Roberts
In the world of daytime television, hyperbole often reigns supreme, but even by those standards, Joy Behar’s latest claim on The View was particularly bold. Behar, a longtime critic of former President Donald Trump, suggested that his brief handshake with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was irrefutable proof of collusion between the Court and the former president. A simple moment of courtesy, in her view, was a sign that the nation’s highest court had abandoned judicial independence in favor of supporting Trump.
This theory unfolded as Behar and her cohosts dissected the previous night’s address before Congress, which Trump had delivered to a packed chamber. While cohost Sunny Hostin proudly declared that she hadn’t even watched the speech, opting instead for a counter-programming event with far fewer viewers, Behar zeroed in on what she believed was the most damning moment of the evening: Trump’s words to Roberts.
“He said to Justice Roberts, ‘Thank you again, thank you again, won’t forget it,’” Behar recounted, her voice brimming with suspicion. “Now, what do you think he was referring to?” The implication was clear—Trump was allegedly thanking Roberts for a favorable Supreme Court ruling, one that had implications for presidential immunity.
Her cohosts readily agreed, with Hostin pointing to the Court’s declining approval ratings as further evidence of its supposed corruption. In Behar’s view, the exchange was a smoking gun, proving that the Supreme Court had fallen in line with a Republican-led Congress that, she claimed, was already “in the bag” for Trump.
Sunny Hostin praises herself for not watching Trump’s address:
“I know how much this present loves his ratings, so I did not turn the TV on. I turned the TV off…I watched the State of the People Summit which was counterprogramming…”
She boasts that the other things she was… pic.twitter.com/APZFekFkJy— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 5, 2025
The broader context of the Supreme Court’s recent actions, however, complicates this narrative. Just days earlier, the Court had delivered a 5-4 ruling against a Trump-backed effort to freeze $2 billion in federal payments to USAID contractors. The decision, which upheld the power of a lower court judge to order the government to fulfill these payments, was met with sharp dissent from Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. Alito, in particular, expressed his frustration, writing, “I am stunned,” in response to the Court’s refusal to intervene.
The ruling followed a legal battle stemming from Trump’s broader efforts—supported by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk—to significantly reduce the size and spending of the federal government, with USAID being a primary target. This initiative led to sweeping job cuts and a dramatic restructuring of USAID’s operations, affecting projects ranging from water infrastructure in Ukraine and Nigeria to malaria prevention efforts in Africa.
While Trump’s executive order sought to reevaluate the necessity of these programs, Judge Amir Ali ruled that the government had overstepped its authority in withholding payments for work already completed. His ruling set the stage for a legal showdown, as contractors argued they had been left unpaid for services rendered, forcing layoffs and financial turmoil.
The administration’s efforts to challenge Ali’s order ultimately reached the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Roberts played a pivotal role in denying Trump’s request for an emergency stay. Notably, the same justice whom Behar accused of conspiring with Trump had, in fact, allowed a ruling to stand that dealt a significant setback to the administration’s agenda.
This context raises an important question: If Roberts was truly “in the bag” for Trump, as Behar suggested, why would he allow a ruling to proceed that directly undermined one of the administration’s key policy objectives? The facts simply do not align with the speculation.