Report: CNN’s Van Jones Furious After ‘The View’ Appearance: ‘They Were Rude,’ ‘He Was Completely Blindsided’

CNN commentator and liberal pundit Van Jones is reportedly furious with hosts of ABC’s “The View” after they “ambushed” him on air.

Jones appeared on the ABC daytime show last week in part to discuss his upcoming documentary, co-produced with The View’s Meghan McCain, called “The Reunited States.” After discussing the documentary for roughly five minutes, several of The View’s hosts become more combative with Jones, attacking him for his past comments on some of former President Donald Trump’s actions.

After his appearance on the show, Jones angrily confronted a producer. “He told them, ‘I didn’t expect to be ambushed,’” a source told the New York Post.

“He felt like they were rude, and he was completely blindsided by how they questioned him. He was not happy about how the interview went. It was unprofessional,” another source told the Post. “[Van] expected a friendly environment, and I don’t think Meghan even knew there was anything controversial about him. It was how they asked the questions that was off-putting. It was shocking how intolerant they were.”

On Monday, Jones tweeted about the Friday segment saying that the way the hosts acted made the “need for the film … more apparent.”

“Real trust is earned by deeds over decades. I was there to promote a film called [‘The Reunited States’], about people listening across lines of difference. Ironically, the need for the film was made more apparent by some of the co-hosts. So I hope more folks will watch it,” Jones said.

Thanks, Monica. Real trust is earned by deeds over decades. I was there to promote a film called @the_reunited, about people listening across lines of difference. Ironically, the need for the film was made more apparent by some of the co-hosts. So I hope more folks will watch it. https://t.co/2gVWVlQKHI

— Van Jones (@VanJones68) February 8, 2021

During his appearance on the show, host Sonny Hostin attacked Jones for some of his past comments praising Trump for policies aiding the black community, such as opportunity zones, funding for historically black colleges, and criminal justice reform

“You do spend a lot of time, you know, threading the middle and trying to unite people, but there are those who really accuse you of being a political opportunist – a chameleon, so to speak – who provided racial cover for former disgraced, twice impeached President Trump,” Hostin said. “People in the black community don’t trust you anymore.”

Fellow host Ana Navarro later chimed in, backing up Hostin and claiming that many people in the black community felt betrayed by Jones, who is black, for praising some of Trump’s policies.

“Sonny is right. You’ve lost a lot of people who trusted you, and who saw you as a voice because of the positions you took during Trump,” Navarro said, noting how he had been an outspoken critic of Trump during the 2016 election. “How did you go from being this very principled critic of the Trump administration, as I was, to all of a sudden being in the White House celebrating with them and being, you know, posing for pictures with Candace Owens?”

Jones responded saying that he worked with the Trump administration on policies he supported just like he had worked with the Obama administration.

“When Obama was in office, I was working with [former GOP Speaker of the House] Newt Gingrich, I was working with Republicans then to get people out of prison, to put the people first,” Jones said. “As much time as I had spent in the Obama White House, working with them trying to get people out of prison, if I had then said, ‘We have a new president. I’m not going in there for four years or eight years,’ it was never then about the people behind bars. It was about me.”

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