Meghan McCain accuses “The View” of slandering her name after Ana Navarro's on-air comment

Navarro suggested that "people sitting at" the Hot Topics table "influence-peddled" on their last names, and McCain called her words "absurd" and "defamatory."

Two years after vacating her Hot Topics table seat, Meghan McCain is turning up the heat on The View over an on-air comment she perceived as a dig at her career as a political commentator.

Following current cohost Ana Navarro's suggestion during a discussion about Hunter Biden's legal woes that unnamed ex-View cohosts attempted to "influence-peddle" on their last names, former View cohost McCain — daughter of the late Senator John McCain — responded to Navarro on social media, tagging the show's X handle in an incendiary response.

"I don’t understand why my former colleagues @TheView bring me up and slander me on an almost weekly basis. It has been years — move on, I have," McCain tweeted, though she has regularly named the show in multiple interviews, in personal essays, and on her podcast, Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat, since departing the program in late 2021.

"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," McCain wrote, before suggesting that she will explore legal action over the comment. "All accusations are absurd, defamatory and slanderous. I will be consulting my lawyers regarding what was libeled against me on The View this morning."

She later tweeted a follow-up message tagging ABC, The View's parent network.

"I do not take it lightly when any news program suggests I engage in criminal behavior, especially as a former employee of ABC News," she continued.

EW has reached out to representatives for The View and McCain for comment.

On Thursday's broadcast of the talk show, Navarro summarized Joe Biden's son and his ongoing legal saga by accusing him of trying to "influence-peddle on his last name," before telling the audience — and without naming names — "So did half of Washington. People sitting at this table did it."

Alyssa Farah Griffin appeared to be confused by the comment, and asked Navarro to clarify. Navarro responded by stressing that she wasn't "talking about currently," which prompted Sunny Hostin to cackle.

Though McCain's father was a famous politician and one-time presidential candidate, the political commentator is not the only ex-View cohost with a famous parent. Abby Huntsman, a Republican who occupied her Hot Topics table seat from 2018 to 2020, joined the show as the daughter of Jon Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah.

The ongoing dispute between The View ladies and McCain also reached a new milestone on Dec. 7, when Sara Haines told Matt Rogers and producer Brian Teta on an episode of the Behind the Table podcast that a certain former cohost made the panelists "uncomfortable," leading to widespread speculation that she meant McCain.

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