AN angry Rosie O’Don nell lashed out at Elis abeth Hasselbeck yesterday on “The View,” berating the younger co-host for voicing an opinion and labeling Hasselbeck’s comments as “blather.”
It was at least the second time this month that O’Donnell, who turns 45 today, verbally attacked Hasselbeck, 29, on the increasingly contentious ABC talk show.
Today’s outburst came during a conversation about the use of torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists being held in military prisons.
Hasselbeck and O’Donnell – along with co-host Joy Behar and guest host Audra McDonald – were in the midst of interviewing filmmaker Rory Kennedy, producer/director of the documentary “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.”
O’Donnell, who seemed to be taking a back seat to the more assertive Hasselbeck during the segment, exploded as Hasselbeck was trying to clarify some of the facts about interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“As a whole, these were extreme methods that were horrific, but to paint the entire army’s way of getting information, really for our benefit to be safe, is not accurate,” Hasselbeck said. “I think at Guantanamo Bay they have their prayer time five times a day. They’re served meals. . . ”
O’Donnell then interrupted her. “Elisabeth,” O’Donnell lectured, “you have to stop. You have to stop. You can ask a question. You can’t blather on your opinion. She’s here to talk about that. Ask her a question.”
Stunned, Hasselbeck stammered, “I asked a question.”
O’Donnell interrupted, paraphrasing Hasselbeck’s previous opinion and asking the question she thought Hasselbeck was trying to ask Kennedy.
“What’s the question? Should we torture people? She said no,” O’Donnell said dismissively.
Earlier this month, during a discussion about the federal government eavesdropping on some citizens’ phone calls – which Hasselbeck apparently supported – O’Donnell blasted Hasselbeck as naive, telling her, “Elisabeth, you are very young and you are very wrong.”
The Post’s Page Six reported then that Hasselbeck cried backstage after the show was over.
There was no word yesterday on Hasselbeck’s reaction to O’Donnell’s newest attack.