Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain go at it on ‘The View’
While covering the recent indictments in the Russian investigation, the ladies of The View got into a popcorn-worthy exchange live on-air.
While covering the recent indictments in the Russian investigation, the ladies of The View got into a popcorn-worthy exchange live on-air.
Sara Haines talked about how vindicated she felt, and Sunny Hostin grinned over the indictment, but newbie Meghan McCain broke in to remind everyone that “we don’t know what we don’t know yet.”
When Hostin pointed out that the indictment was now fact, McCain argued, “You know what’s also a fact is that it came out last week that the DNC and Hilary Clinton has ties through this Fusion GPS oppo research group, and they also paid money to get this Russian dossier.”
–Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort indicted on felony conspiracy charges–
When Hostin and Haines argued that it was “normal to have opposition research” and that there were a suspicious amount of ties between Trump and Russia, McCain replied, “But this is the ultimate breakdown of democracy, and the humor and levity surrounding it on both sides, and by the way, there was a quote that just came out-”
At that point, Hostin broke in with, “Let’s not talk about ‘both sides’.” Speaking over McCain’s argument, she said, “Let’s talk about what’s happening today.”
When McCain continued to try to bring up Clinton, Hostin shouted, “Hillary Clinton is not the president and Hillary Clinton wasn’t just indicted!”
–Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research behind Trump-Russia dossier–
McCain then tried to explain herself, admitting that even in Republican circles, Manafort wasn’t considered to be an ethical man. “During the campaign, when [Trump] was hiring people like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, it raised a lot of alarms for people like me, because, in inner political circles, your campaign operatives are a reflection of the candidate.”
But she drew fire again when she said, “But to sort of, like, poo-poo the idea that the DNC is now also attached to this Russian dossier is what makes Republicans’ head go crazy.”
But the other cohosts weren’t having it, shooting down the DNC story as a “distraction,” as Hostin pointed out, “Why aren’t we talking about the two people that were indicted today?”
When McCain tried to shoot back by attacking Democrats who “didn’t take this seriously” when Barack Obama dismissed Mitt Romney’s comments in 2012 suggesting that the United States should pay more attention to Russian, Hostin said, “President Obama wasn’t indicted today!”
McCain got heated as she said she was just trying to explain her side, going on to argue, “It’s intellectually dishonest to say that Democrats have always cared about Russia.”
Joy Behar stepped in lamenting a recent report that 75 percent of Republicans don’t believe that the Russian story is important, to which McCain pointed out that her family was sanctioned from ever visiting Russia.
“You’re in the 25 percent, Meghan,” Behar pointed out, going on to say that it was “disheartening” to hear that people “don’t care about the democracy that we have worked so hard, that your family and mine have fought so hard to preserve.”
McCain agreed with Behar, saying that the “worst part of this election” was the “normalizing of Vladimir Putin,” adding that Putin was a “dictator and a thug.”
“I’m just saying,” McCain insisted, “don’t underestimate the politicization of this as well.”
As the cohosts tossed around different topics like Donald Trump’s tax returns and the president’s approval rating, a frustrated Hostin once more stepped in saying, “We’ve danced around every single topic, except what happened today, which is: we have an indictment against Paul Manafort, who was the campaign chairperson for Donald Trump in March 2016, and Richard Gates. We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars that were money-laundered, we’re talking about meetings with the Russians… This is not about ‘both sides’, this is about this side, and I think we need to call it what it is.”
