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Meghan McCain has threatened to sue after one of the co-hosts of The View insinuated that she engaged in behavior similar to that of Hunter Biden.
McCain said she would be "consulting" her lawyers about "what was libeled against" her during Thursday's episode of the talk show, when Ana Navarro, who joined The View shortly after McCain's 2021 departure, suggested that the daughter of the late Senator John McCain "influence-peddled" her family name.
"Look, did Hunter Biden influence-peddle on his last name? Yes, he did. So did half of Washington. People sitting at this table did it!" Navarro said during the show, shocking her co-hosts. One of them, Alyssa Farah Griffin, asked whom Navarro was talking about, and the political commentator responded, "I'm not talking about currently," which drew laughter from the panel and the audience. Navarro did not mention McCain by name.
"All accusations are absurd, defamatory and slanderous," McCain reacted in a Thursday post on X (formerly Twitter).
McCain was added to the show in 2017 and appeared for four seasons until her departure. Although she initially said she was leaving the show so she could raise her daughter in Washington, D.C.—the show is filmed in New York City—McCain later blamed a "toxic" workplace in her audiobook, calling out co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar by name.
Newsweek reached out to The View via email for comment on Thursday's incident.
Hunter Biden has been the subject of repeated GOP attacks, and House Republicans have been investigating the president's son's business dealings, which they allege Joe Biden benefited from. On Wednesday, the House voted to approve a resolution to open an impeachment inquiry into the president, which Republicans say will give them more power to issue subpoenas to the White House.
Hunter appeared at the Capitol earlier in the day to offer public testimony but refused Republican requests for a closed-door deposition.
Although no evidence has been presented of the president's alleged wrongdoing, his son has been indicted on nine criminal charges in a federal tax case and on three felony gun charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty in the gun possession and false statements case.
On Thursday, McCain said on X, "I don't understand why my former colleagues @TheView @ABC bring me up and slander me on an almost weekly basis. It has been years - move on, I have."
She continued: "I have never been accused of a crime in my life and am a patriotic American - I would never and have never 'influenced peddled' in my life, let alone with foreign adversaries. Not all [politicians'] children are the same - and I am no Hunter Biden."
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more