‘The View’ Cohosts React to Trump’s Alleged Epstein Drawing

Amanda Bell September 9, 2025, 11:37 am

The View returned for its second live episode of the season on Tuesday (September 9), and the first order of business was to discuss the birthday message Donald Trump reportedly sent for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday. And the cohosts did so very, very carefully with copious use of the word “alleged” throughout the discussion.

The drawing has been a major point of contention for the White House and other Republicans after it was initially described in The Wall Street Journal, and Trump sued the newspaper for $10 billion. On September 8, the publication (along with the House of Representatives) then shared the drawing and message itself, which included an apparent sketch of a woman’s torso, along with a note in which it is claimed that Trump wrote, in part, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey,” and “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has denied that the letter or signature is his.

Epstein was a convicted child sex trafficker, and the Trump administration’s handling of his case files has drawn sharp criticism for months, including sustained rebukes from the cohosts of The View.

After reviewing footage of some House Republicans’ response to the letter’s release, including those denying it actually was made by Trump and another suggesting it doesn’t implicate Trump even if it is his, the cohosts weighed in.

“If this letter does turn out to be legit, will Americans agree that this doesn’t implicate him? That doesn’t make sense,” Whoopi Goldberg said to start. “Because if it turns out it’s legit, it does implicate him.”

“It’s vague, an enigma. ‘We like the same things.’ I don’t know legally, if it would stand up as something incriminating,” Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out. “Yeah, I’d say, ‘This seems super creepy, like the creepiest poem…'”

“What happened to, ‘if it quacks like a duck and it looks like a duck, it’s a duck.’ What happened to that?” Joy Behar countered.

“I don’t think that holds up in court,” Griffin laughed.

“In the court of public opinion, though, it should hold up in the court of public opinion,” Behar responded.

Sunny Hostin then agreed with Griffin to say, “I don’t think it implicates him in any of Epstein’s crimes or any of Ghislane Maxwell’s crimes in court, and he’s repeatedly denied writing the letter he sued the Wall Street Journal in July over its report about it, he’s even suggested that someone else could have written it and signed his name. But I do think that the key fact here is that it comes from Epstein’s estate, which means Epstein was in possession of this birthday book with the alleged, alleged, alleged, alleged drawing, doodling and poem from allegedly from Donald Trump.”

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Griffin then applauded the bipartisan congressional effort to get any and all documents related to Epstein. “And the victims, who I never want to forget when we talk about him, have come out in favor of maximum transparency… Nobody should hide behind, ‘Well, it’s about protecting the victims.’ They want accountability, and the public should, too.” She went on to add, “If you’re Trump and you did nothing wrong in your association with Jeffrey Epstein, shouldn’t you also want maximum transparency? You should say, ‘Release it all!'”

Sara Haines then weighed in to say, “This is bigger than Donald Trump. Because I think right now, the coverage, everyone wants to jump to the Donald Trump of it. I think if you’re truly concerned about this issue, it absolutely is bipartisan like that, the bill they’re looking to and the victims coming out and saying, ‘If you guys aren’t going to do justice for us, we’re taking the power back into our own hands,’ because Representative Tom Massie said, ‘We can’t avoid justice just to avoid embarrassment for some very powerful men,’ and I think nothing captures it more than that.”

Behar also offered praise for three congresswomen she usually disagrees with (namely, Marjorie Taylor Green, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert) for “sticking up for the Epstein victims.”

Hostin then jumped back in to note her own history prosecuting sex crimes on behalf of victims and said, “I know that perhaps certain Republicans and perhaps the president is saying that this is a hoax, and that we should all get over it. We should never get over the victimization of women, of young girls.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC