Whoopi Goldberg Has a Plan for Subpoena-Defying Steve Bannon: 'Snatch Him Up!'

Little has happened in the two weeks since the House of Representatives voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 commission, but Whoopi Goldberg may have just kickstarted the process. On Wednesday morning, The View's longtime moderator insisted that it's time for police to "snatch him up" and force him to cooperate with the lawmakers investigating the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Goldberg opened Wednesday's show with an update on former President Trump's efforts to avoid releasing documents related to the Capitol insurrection. "He filed an appeal after a judge ruled he must release his records from January 6, as 10 more of his insiders were subpoenaed, which Steve Bannon apparently continues to ignore," she explained. "See, if it was one of us, and a subpoena came and we said, 'I'm not going.' Child, the sheriff would drive up to the house and snatch your behind and put you in the jail while everybody figured stuff out."

"Maybe that's what needs to happen. Maybe they just need to snatch him up with the sheriffs," she said. "Because I don't know what they're waiting for."

Sunny Hostin then chimed in with her experience issuing and enforcing subpoenas as a prosecutor, prompting Joy Behar to joke that she "should subpoena Bannon" rather than Congress. "I would like to do that," replied Hostin with a smile, before returning to the topic at hand. "When you're looking at a criminal indictment, I'll tell you, you start cooperating real quickly. But they haven't acted. They haven't done anything. I mean, where's [Attorney General] Merrick Garland? He is in the position to make sure this happens."

JUDGE RULES JAN. 6 COMMITTEE CAN ACCESS TRUMP RECORDS: A judge rejected former Pres. Trump’s request to block the release of documents to the House committee investigating Jan. 6 as the committee subpoenaed 10 of his former administration members — the co-hosts discuss. pic.twitter.com/PH8M1kTBUo

— The View (@TheView) November 10, 2021

After some more back and forth, during which Goldberg accused Bannon and other Trump officials of giving "the middle finger to a subpoena," Hostin explained why Garland needs to take swift action. "He's one of those people, 'Let's blow up the government.' I think he's an anarchist, and he's just like, 'I'm not going to pay attention to this. I'm not going to listen,'" she said. "He's exactly the type of person that you need to send the sheriff or the U.S. Marshal or someone out there. He's exactly the type of person that you make an example of."

"That's right," added Goldberg, as she shot a look at the camera. "Knock knock. Who's there? The sheriff."

Elsewhere on The View... Joy Behar got the panel all riled up when she questioned how thoroughly People Magazine searches before naming a new Sexiest Man Alive. "Here's the thing with People Magazine," said Behar, prompting Goldberg to ask The View's producers whether it's a "good idea" to let her co-host proceed (they gave the OK). "All I'm going to say is this is ridiculous, this thing they do every year, the Sexiest Man Alive. It's a huge exaggeration."

"It's very limited to show business in this country," she continued. "What about a hot guy in Belarus or Slovenia? How do we know that this is the Sexiest Man Alive in the whole world?! It's insane!"

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.