On the second “Hot Topic” of the day for Tuesday’s (July 22) live new episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg dug into what she called a “media blitz” by Donald Trump, following last week’s major and sustained backlash against his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files (that is, a list of the high-profile clients of his child sex trafficking ring).

“You Know Who’s administration has been on an all-out media blitz after suing the Wall Street Journal for a story about his alleged past with Jeffrey Epstein. He posted a fake AI video of former President Obama getting arrested after accusing him of treason. Yeah, that’s funny. What’s the other one? Oh, yeah. He released the files on Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, even after the family said, ‘Please don’t do that.’ And then he even demanded that the Washington Commanders change their name back to their old name. Now, a lot of people are thinking he’s trying to knock the Epstein files out of the headlines. But I don’t think people are ready to move on. I think they want the files.”

When Joy Behar noted that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is shutting down that chamber of Congress for a summer break instead of allowing more votes on measures to release the files, Goldberg said, “Everybody knows that’s what he’s doing. Yeah, it’s not even like it’s subtle. It’s like, ‘We don’t want to deal with this. But the thing about it is, it’s not going anywhere. No, it’s not going away. So go on and have your vacation. When you come back, it’s going to be waiting for you.”

When Sunny Hostin agreed that this recess is just “prolonging” the story, Goldberg said, “Yeah, just rip the band-aid off!”

Hostin then jumped back in to question, “And why release MLK Jr.’s files against the family’s wishes? But what I love is that Bernice King said, ‘Now do the Epstein files.’”

Sara Haines agreed with Goldberg that the story has legs, unlike many other Trump controversies, saying, “The difference between the Epstein files is the call is coming from within the house. This is his own base, the file, yes, it is absolutely coming from within the party. Normally, the MAGA base is the one that transitions the party line — from ‘January 6 was an insurrection’ to ‘No, nothing to see here.’”

Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed with Haines that it’s members of the right that are continuing to raise alarm bells about Epstein and added, “By the way, you didn’t mention my favorite of the distractions, which is he said that all Coca Cola now has to have real sugar … which I actually fully support him on.”

Behar then spoke up and cited those conspiracy theories that certain high-profile Democrats might be part of the Epstein files. “There’s also a very powerful idea that people will find [former President Bill] Clinton might be in the Epstein files… And I say, ‘So what?’ Yeah, listen, I’m fine with that. I’m not in a cult.”

Goldberg then spoke up again to say, “Here’s where his biggest mistake has been, in my humble opinion, [saying,] ‘I don’t know him. I don’t know him!’ … And then you got 900 million zillion pictures [together with Epstein]. That’s why people are pissed, because finally, people are saying, ‘Well, wait a minute. How come you all have seemingly been together so much if you don’t know him at all?’ And you said — you said it, the Democrats didn’t say it — they said, ‘I’m putting all this out.’”

When Griffin then said Republicans in Congress might be avoiding the issue over fear of a midterm election loss over the issue, Goldberg reclaimed the last word to say, “Everybody who is up for reelection on either side should be nervous because you don’t make that decision for us. We decide who goes in. It is up to the people. It is not up to the lawmakers. So you should be nervous wherever you stand, because if we don’t think you’re doing your job, you’re gone.”