Meghan McCain threatened to take legal action against former colleague and The View co-host Ana Navarro for accusing McCain of "influence peddling" similar to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
McCain joined The View in 2017 as the show's conservative personality and was a regular co-host until her 2021 departure due to what she deemed a "toxic" environment on set.
The former co-host took to X to respond to Navarro's Thursday comment.
"I don’t understand why my former colleagues [at] The View [and] ABC bring me up and slander me on an almost weekly basis," McCain wrote. "It has been years - move on, I have."
McCain drew a distinction between herself and the President's son, who is currently under investigation for alleged corrupt business dealings with his family.
"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," McCain said of Navarro's comment. "Not all politicians children are the same - and I am no Hunter Biden. 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 concluded.
"The View is an ABC News program. I do not take it lightly when any news program suggests I engage in criminal behavior," McCain wrote in a follow-up post. "Especially as a former employee of ABC News." .@TheView is an @ABC News program. I do not take it lightly when any news program suggests I engage in criminal behavior, especially as a former employee of ABC News.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) December 14, 2023
The former co-host of the ABC program was responding to Navarro's Thursday remark that associates of The View had engaged in "influence peddling," though didn't explicitly mention McCain's name.
"Did Hunter Biden influence peddle on his last name? Yes, he did. So did half of Washington," Navarro said. "People sitting at this table did it."
Fellow co-hosts of the program appeared shocked by Navarro's comment and appeared to understand she was referring to McCain.
Former White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to former President Donald Trump Alyssa Farah-Griffin, who replaced McCain as the program's conservative personality, questioned who Navarro was implicating.
"I'm not talking about currently," Navarro responded as the panel erupted with laughter.
"Just wanted to clear our names," Farah-Griffin said.
