Yahoo Movies Alyssa Farah Griffin Claims Trump Is 'Wholly Unfit' for Office as She Reflects on Her Time in White House
Lisa Ferdinando/Department of Defense/AP; Patrick Semansky/AP Alyssa Farah Griffin and Donald Trump
As the possibility of Donald Trump seeking reelection in 2024 grows, Alyssa Farah Griffin is opening up about why she doesn't think her former boss is fit to serve as the president of the United States.
Farah Griffin was Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary and the youngest Pentagon press secretary in history before serving as White House director of strategic communications under President Trump. In July, PEOPLE learned she was named a new co-host on The View, slated to represent the conservative perspective with Ana Navarro.
Speaking with PEOPLE, Farah Griffin says that while even though she worked for "one of the most, if not the most divisive president in history," she does not plan on emulating his style as a talk show host.
"I walked away committed to feeling in my bone that I want to be part of solutions, not adding to the division," she says. "So rather than go on hyper-partisan TV, where I'm just going to agree with everyone around me, I want to have a really thoughtful conversation with really smart Democrats, like former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin; someone who knows her stuff. She is so far left of me, but I know we're going to have thoughtful, serious conversations."
Farah Griffin explains that she was initially presented the opportunity to work directly under Trump in 2017 when he first took office. She declined, though, because she had "concerns about the man, who he was and the people around him."
In April 2020, after working under both Pence and the Department of Defense, she accepted the role of director of strategic communications for the White House.
"I went back to the West Wing, which I'm sure in so many people's minds define me, but they're only part of who I am," she tells PEOPLE. "And what I would say is I could spend rest of my life debating if I ever should have gone there, but I know the growth that came from it. I know the voice I found from working for Trump and realizing that he is not a man I could ever support being an office again."
Lou Rocco/ABC/Getty Alyssa Farah Griffin (R) on The View
When asked if she would vote for Trump if his name ends up on the ballot in 2024 she said, "He is wholly unfit to be in office."
She explains that she resigned from her post before the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
"When the election lies started being shared, I couldn't put my name to it. I couldn't put my conscience to it," she says. "So I resigned. But I didn't forcefully speak out until Jan. 6th, and I haven't stopped since."
She does, though, consider herself a "conservative Republican" and says while she is "no friend of Donald Trump's" that "doesn't mean I'm not extremely tied in in Republican politics."
"I'm a conservative Republican. But not to get into policy, my party needs to change," she says. "It needs to come into the 21st century. So I want to be part of fixing what the future of the Republican Party should be in casting behind us into the ash heap of history what Donald Trump has done to it."
Despite her opinion of the former president, Farah Griffin wants people to know that she was "honored to work for Vice President Pence."
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"I'm a conservative. I agreed with probably 75% of his positions. I've been outspoken," she says. "I have a different view on things like marriage equality, for example. But I know him to be a good man, a patriot, and a serious person."
Season 26 of The View kicks off Sept. 6 on ABC (check local listings).
