'I like my presidents to know history': Sunny Hostin calls out Nikki Haley on 'The View' for her comments on racism in the US

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The January 18 episode of 'The View' had co-hosts Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin discuss the GOP presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Nikki Haley around the Hot Topics table.

While Trump was slammed for wanting complete immunity for the period that he served as the President of the United States, it was Nikki Haley's comments on racism in the country that had the speakers, especially Hostin, more riled.

The former UN Ambassador has faced rebuke for maintaining her stance that the US has never been a racist country, which she stressed on again during her interview on CNN on January 17.

Sunny Hostin shares history lesson for Nikki Haley

Haley approached the conversation by saying, "I like my presidents to know history, especially American history," making Behar quip, "You are so needy."

As the audience laughed, Hostin continued on a serious note, "What's troubling about what she said about race… is that she is quoting the Declaration of Independence that was penned by Thomas Jefferson."

"Thomas Jefferson owned 600 slaves throughout his lifetime," she elaborated. "He also began raping one of those slaves, Sally Hemmings, at the age of 15, and had a shadow family with her of 6 children."

"So when he said, 'All men are created equal,' he was saying that in the context of - 'but the people who aren't equal are women and the enslaved that I have at Monticello.' So, Nikki, that's just a history lesson," she called out.

MAGA voters and Haley

Racism is playing an underlying role in the narrative that Haley is running, claimed Hostin.

"She's really trying to get that MAGA base," noted Hostin, "She's trying to get that Republican base."

"And although we are not a racist country according to her," she mocked, "85% of Republicans are white. I'm not saying that they're all racists, but many racists are white."

"What I have noticed now is Donald Trump is picking up on that - will Republicans vote (for) a woman of color? He is calling her Nimrata (the birth name of Haley) now, over and over… because he knows what his base will or will not go for. And they will not go for Nikki Haley," she concluded.