'The View' slams Trump administration, avoids criticizing ABC over Kimmel suspension

"The View" co-hosts railed against President Donald Trump's administration on Monday while addressing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, and avoided criticizing their mutual employer, ABC. 

Co-host Sunny Hostin cited former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. while weighing in on the First Amendment.

"We must protect the freedom to express the thought we hate," she said, quoting Holmes. "So Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor said last week that 'every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself that law school failed.' Well, my law school, Notre Dame, didn't fail. I know very well what the freedom of speech means. I know all of you know very much what the freedom of speech means and the President of the United States should know what freedom of speech means."

Kimmel's show was pulled by Disney after the liberal late-night host suggested Charlie Kirk's alleged shooter was part of the "MAGA gang." That sparked a veiled threat from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and led two major ABC affiliate owners to drop the program from their stations. 

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The co-hosts did not address the suspension until Monday's episode of the show, even though the news broke last Wednesday. Whoopi Goldberg said the panel "took a breath" to see if Kimmel wanted to respond first, and insisted "no one silences us," seemingly pushing back on speculation that ABC had pressured them to stay quiet.

News broke after the show Monday afternoon that Kimmel would return to the air on Tuesday night.

"I want to start by thanking our loyal viewers for demanding truth and courage from us. You deserve it, and we will give it to you," co-host Ana Navarro said during the segment. 

Navarro, who has often spoken of living under dictatorships in Nicaragua, accused the government of using its power to cow Americans into silence.

"This is what dictators do. It does not matter the ideology. At first, they come before the people with big platforms, at first they silence the press, but then they come for all of us because their intent is to scare us into silence and self-censorship. Look at the things that this government has done," she said. 

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Goldberg opened the ABC News program by telling viewers, "Now, look, did y'all really think we weren't going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel?" 

"I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? So you know no one silences us," she continued. 

The co-hosts' criticisms on Monday focused on the government rather than ABC and Disney, who have come under fire from progressives and even been protested for benching the liberal comedian.

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MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, a former "View" co-host, took notice of her old show avoiding the news last week.

"I was on 'The View.' Those women are fearless, and the story didn't come up. I mean, it's obviously being felt and acted upon at ABC more broadly," Wallace said Friday.