The co-hosts of “The View” criticized Democratic lawmakers who missed Tuesday’s vote on a resolution to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Nearly a dozen Democrats were absent. Some said traffic or other events kept them away, prompting criticism from voters and commentators.
“I have to say, the ones who blamed traffic really annoyed me,” Joy Behar said. She added that navigation apps can help people plan their journeys and asked whether Nancy Pelosi had been among those who missed the vote.
Pelosi was attending a veterans event, Whoopi Goldberg replied. Pelosi was one of 11 Democrats who did not attend.
“But the vote matters,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said.
Sunny Hostin said Haley Stevens’ absence wasn’t surprising. Goldberg joked that Stevens might not have been able to find the train station.
Sara Haines called the absences a “self-inflicted wound” for Democrats. Voters had turned out to make their voices heard, she said, and it looked bad for lawmakers to miss work just a week later.
Haines later said party leaders bore some responsibility for keeping members together, but that lawmakers themselves were mostly to blame for not showing up.
Dan Turrentine, a former Democratic strategist and co-host of “The Huddle,” said seven Republicans and 11 Democrats had missed the vote. Absences are common during a lame-duck period, he said, when departing lawmakers may have lost interest in Congress. But most of the Democrats, he added, had not planned to miss the vote. Their absence embarrassed both the lawmakers and their party, and underscored that voting is a central part of a representative’s job.
