Alyssa Farah Griffin claims Pete Hegseth is going after Mark Kelly to ‘get in good with Trump’

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The hosts of 'The View' opened their Hot Topics segment by taking a victory lap over the Trump administration’s recent losses in court, after criminal cases against former FBI chief James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed this week.

The panel then zeroed in on Sen Mark Kelly, who is now facing a new federal case after appearing in a video urging military members to “refuse illegal orders.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin says Pete Hegseth targeting Mark Kelly for attention

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin wasn’t impressed by the latest effort. “I don’t imagine this is going to go very far,” she said, noting the language in the video was carefully crafted. In her view, the case has little to do with the video itself.

Farah Griffin argued that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has another motive for targeting Kelly.

“I think the timing of Pete Hegseth really cracking down on a distinguished veteran like Mark Kelly comes because he is being sidelined in these Ukraine negotiations,” she said. “He’s nowhere to be found in the discussions; in fact, a deputy of his, the Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, has emerged as kind of a power player in this.” She suggested Hegseth is simply trying to get President Trump’s attention.

“I think he’s doing it to try to get in good with Trump, to be like ‘Look, I’m fighting your fights for you,’ but it’s going to go very similarly to how these Comey and Letitia James cases went,” she said.

“Where, when you do something, and it doesn’t look like there’s merit there, it’s gonna fall apart, the president’s gonna be mad, and you’re gonna be embarrassed," Griffin warned.

Procedural flaw leads judge to dismiss James Comey, Letitia James indictments

Comey and James were both indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia. Comey was indicted in September for false statements to Congress and obstruction involving his 2020 Senate testimony on FBI leaks, and James in October for mortgage fraud and false statements tied to a 2020 home purchase.

Attorney Lindsey Halligan, appointed after her predecessor resigned under pressure for refusing to pursue the cases. But on November 24, District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed both indictments without prejudice. The issue wasn’t the evidence, it was the prosecutor. 

Halligan’s appointment reportedly violated federal law (28 USC § 546), which allows an Attorney General to install an interim Attorney for only 120 days. Halligan was appointed after that deadline had expired. The cases were invalid from the start because she alone presented evidence to the grand juries and signed the indictments. 

The judge rejected the DOJ’s attempt to retroactively “ratify” her appointment, saying it would allow unqualified individuals to prosecute cases. The ruling was not about whether Comey or James committed crimes, only that the indictments were procedurally defective.

President Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Attorney General Pam Bondi have all dismissed the ruling as a mere “technicality,” accusing a “partisan” judge of shielding political allies. The Justice Department says it will appeal, potentially bringing the case before the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.