'The View' Hosts Battle It Out After CNN's Jim Acosta is Accused of Assaulting White House Intern

Donald Trump's combative press conference with CNN's Jim Acosta was the Hot Topic of the day on "The View," as the hosts debated whether or not the reporter "assaulted" a White House intern, as Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders alleges.

During the tense exchange on Wednesday, Acosta asked Trump about his claim that there was an impending invasion by people in the refugee caravan. Trump attempted to dodge the question, but when Acosta persisted, Trump went off.

"You know what? Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN," Trump fired back. "If you did it well, your ratings would be much better."

POTUS tried to move on to the next reporter's question, but Acosta held onto the microphone, as an aide attempted to take it from him. He refused to give it up and, at one moment, their arms made contact.

"When you look at the clip, is that inappropriate touching?" asked Whoopi Goldberg on Thursday. "We know when someone is accused of assault, that's a very loaded word. Did that look like assault?"

"In my opinion, no," said Abby Huntsman. "You have a president that does not live in a fact-based world a lot of the time and his tone was so aggressive, but you also have people in the press core that are constantly aching to make the headlines and to get those soundbites."

She continued, saying that reporters are "not supposed to be the story" and adding that she was "frustrated" watching the interaction between Acosta and Trump.

Joy Behar said she seconded a theory saying Trump set up the altercation to distract from more pressing matters, like the co-called caravan and Democrats taking over the House of Representatives. "Distract, make Jim Acosta the story and you don't have to talk about global warming, taxes for rich people," she added.

"That's not wrong, it's a great hedge," agreed Meghan McCain. She went on to say that she, in general, doesn't like when men touch her without permission, but said what Acosta did was not assault. "Is it inappropriate for a journalist to be doing it to a white house aide? 100%," she added.

McCain also agreed with Huntsman when it comes to reporters being the news themselves. "Jim Acosta is always the story. He's always the story. I'm sick of him being the story, I'm sick of talking about Jim Acosta," she said. "In that moment, I thought he was grandstanding."

Talk then turned to the aide herself, with Behar saying she shouldn't have touched Acosta.

"When I saw that, I learned very early on that what I saw was a battery, not by Jim Acosta but by the young White House aide," added Sunny Hostin. "When you are holding something and you snatch this from me, this is now an extension of me and that means you've battered me, you've assaulted me."

"So you're blaming the woman in this situation?" asked Abby, as McCain also countered by sarcastically saying, "So it's the woman's fault for doing her job. So that White House intern should be arrested for battery."

When Hostin said she was just "telling you what the law is," McCain shot back, "So we should get her arrested for battery, clearly. You better go arrest her for battery."

It became clear that this group wasn't going to agree here, as Huntsman said "these are tough conversations." Not so, according to Whoopi.

"They're actually not, because part of me will say this to everybody, I don't know how long I could be a nice person if I got my face yelled at constantly that I was fake and a liar and a terrible person," Goldberg countered. "I think I would start to get a little crabby also. I'm not making excuses, but I do wonder how long folks are supposed to be nice and take it. I think that you can't be surprised if they're a little crunchy."