Conservative political adviser Alyssa Farah Griffin is rumored to be the newest co-host of ABC’s “The View.”
The move has allegedly already caused a rift among the show’s longtime hosts.
Griffin, 33, would be joining Sara Haines, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin for the daytime talk show’s 26th season, which begins in September.
In 2020, Griffin acted as White House director of strategic communications and assistant to the president in the Trump administration. In 2021, she joined CNN as a political commentator.
Her permanent seat at the talk show’s table isn’t official until Thursday when the show said its new member will be revealed. However, “The View” fans — as well as MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross and comedian Wanda Sykes — have already slammed the network for reportedly hiring Griffin.
Who is Alyssa Farah Griffin?
Born in Los Angeles on June 15, 1989, Griffin is the daughter of two journalists. Her father, Joseph Farah, was the executive news editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, then an editor at Northern California’s the Sacramento Union.
Her father is of Syrian and Lebanese descent. In 1997, Joseph founded the far-right conspiracy website WorldNetDaily, known for espousing conspiracy theories — including doubts about President Barack Obama’s US citizenship.
Griffin worked for her father as the “special Washington correspondent” during and after she pursued her bachelor’s degree in journalism and public policy at Patrick Henry College.
Her mom, Judy — who’s of Ukrainian descent — has worked for HuffPost, the Associated Press and Comstock’s.
Griffin married Justin Griffin, a current MBA candidate at the Stern School of Business at New York University, in Florida in November 2021. He is the grandson of real estate developer and Republican Party activist Samuel A. Tamposi.
While acting as a guest host on “The View” in February, Griffin revealed that her father and stepmother did not attend the couple’s wedding after she publicly spoke up against President Donald Trump.
What jobs has Griffin had?
Griffin started her journalism career writing for World Daily Net. In 2010, she accepted a media internship with Congressman Tom McClintock and had a yearlong stint as an associate producer on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”
During the 2012 presidential election cycle, she traveled across the country as a spokesperson for the College Republican National Committee, speaking on the youth vote.
Two years later, she became Congressman Mark Meadows’ press secretary, then his communications director.
Under Meadows and Jim Jordan, she then became the communications director for the Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives.
In September 2017, Griffin became Vice President Mike Pence’s special assistant to the president and press secretary.
Two years later, she was appointed as press secretary for the US Department of Defense after the position was vacant for nearly a year. She also served as the director of media affairs during this time.
She joined the Trump administration as the controversial president’s chief of staff in 2020 and became a White House press secretary that April — a job she later regretted.
Griffin resigned as press secretary on Dec. 3, 2020, which was effective the following day.
She denounced Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection and joined CNN as a political commentator near the end of 2021.
“At no point in my entire life was my goal to be on TV and be a talking head. I know I for sure said to my husband multiple times, ‘I want to stay off TV because I don’t want to forever be seen as a Trump spokesperson,’ ” she told Vanity Fair about the gig.
“Famous last words,” Griffin added.
What did Griffin do for the Trump administration?
Griffin was an important piece of the president’s coronavirus response, the Washington Post reported.
She reinforced that report during an appearance on “The View,” telling the hosts, “My duty was to serve the American public and to serve the country, and I did my best to do that.
“We were dealing with unprecedented crises in this country, hearing we were going to have a ‘Pearl Harbor a day’ of loss of life,” Griffin explained about accepting the job during the pandemic.
“And I thought if there’s anything [I can do] to help, I couldn’t say no.”
However, Griffin said she would not support another Trump presidency, adding, “We got to move on from this era.”
What are Griffin’s political beliefs?
Griffin is a Conservative.
Although she worked for the Trump administration, she has spoken out against him, saying she quit a month after he lost the 2020 election because she “saw where this [the Republican Party] was heading.”
During the Jan. 6 insurrection, she tweeted, “Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump… You are the only one they will listen to. For our country!
“There were cases of fraud that should be investigated,” she continued later that day. “But the legitimate margins of victory for Biden are far too wide to change the outcome. … We must accept these results.”
Although her Twitter still regularly leans to the right, Griffin doubled down on her Jan. 6 words while also bashing former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews in July.
She [Matthews] believed in him [Trump] like millions of Americans. On 1/6 he let her de ella & our entire country down, ” Griffin wrote in a tweet.
Has she been a guest on ‘The View’ before?
Yes, Griffin has made multiple appearances on the ABC primetime talk show after the show’s Conservative host Meghan McCain departed in 2021. Ostensibly on the hunt for someone to replace her, “The View” launched a sort of “public audition,” the Hollywood Reporter has speculated, featuring a number of prominent Conservative pundits.
Griffin oftentimes sits at the Hot Topics table, including the memorable moment she revealed her dad and stepmom did not attend her wedding due to political differences on Feb. 11, as previously mentioned.
Griffin also faced tough questions from the permanent hosts on the Oct. 4, 2021, episode while discussing how some Trump employees bought into the narrative that the election was stolen.
“I got plenty of tea to spill, ladies,” she laughed on the episode. “Here today and tomorrow,” she quipped.
Mask mandates, skipping a wedding and heading straight to a honeymoon and Andrew Cuomo are among other topics Griffin has discussed on the show.
Who else was considered for the co-hosting gig?
Stephanie Grisham, Tara Setmayer, Michele Tafoya, Ana Navarro and others were candidates for the empty seat at “The View’s” table, PrimeTimer reported.
Since McCain’s departure, producers have also recruited Mia Love, Gretchen Carlson and Eboni K. Williams, among others to temporarily fill in, but it sounds like Griffin will outweigh them all.
But she won’t be the only familiar face come Thursday. Longtime co-host and God-fearing Republican Elisabeth Hasselbeck returned to the show on Wednesday after being fired in 2013 when producers wanted to shake up the cast. However, they subsequently spent years trying and failing to bring in a Conservative who captivated audiences in the same way that she did.
“The View” will make its official co-host announcement on Thursday at 11 am EST.
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