Meghan McCain challenged the recent “regrets” of former Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, saying, “I don’t think that #MeToo and sexual assault should be about which party you voted in the general election.”
McCain, during a Tuesday segment of ABC’s “The View,” also argued that Franken, who resigned amid allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior — some of which included photographic evidence — would have been a liability if he had remained in his seat long enough to question Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearing included similar accusations.
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McCain began by attacking the article that brought Franken’s regrets into the national discussion, saying that reporter Jane Mayer had treated the former senator differently than she had Kavanaugh. (RELATED: Democrats Now Regret Forcing Al Franken Out Of The Senate)
“The focus is on Leeann Tweeden,” McCain began. “It doesn’t talk about the seven other women who accused him of sexual misconduct, two while he was a sitting senator. The problem with him staying in office would be — imagine him questioning Brett Kavanaugh at the time, which by the way, the writer who wrote this article Jane Mayer, wrote a 2018 piece about allegations of Brett Kavanaugh that’s been panned because the only corroborating witness said he had heard the story but he didn’t remember it now.”
“So it’s very tricky. I want you to go back in time and remember it would be very uncomfortable for Democrats if Al Franken were sitting there questioning Brett Kavanaugh at the same time and the article only focuses on Leanne. It’s not focusing on the seven other women at the same time,” McCain continued. “I don’t think that #MeToo and sexual assault should be about which party you voted in the general election.”
Joy Behar came to Franken’s defense, arguing that there were holes in Tweeden’s story, that many of the accusations mirrored those that had been made against former Vice President Joe Biden and that the accusations against Franken had “disappeared” the moment he resigned.
“Well, they disappeared the minute he resigned,” Behar said. “That was the end of them. It’s suspicious in itself, but Biden has been accused of being too touchy-feely and Franken says he is too. I’m here to say that has to stop on both sides.”
Behar, who was vocally opposed to Kavanaugh, did not mention the fact that the accusations against him also evaporated once he was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
McCain shot back in Biden’s defense, saying, “There’s no pictures of Joe Biden putting his hands on a woman’s breast.”
“It was a flak jacket,” Behar jumped in to defend Franken once again. “The problem is she was sleeping and he said it was wrong. He was nowhere near her actual breasts.”
The conversation quickly turned to due process, potentially false accusations and the fact that Franken’s resignation had preempted any investigation that might have ultimately led to a different outcome.
“It’s a small percentage,” Whoopi Goldberg noted with regard to false accusations. “But you don’t want your son to be the one that’s being accused without due process. Unless you have due process in this country, we will be facing stuff that you can’t even imagine. Somebody will say it’s them and they’re gone. You can’t do that. You must follow the law, everybody. You must follow the law.”
McCain brought the conversation back around to the article, adding, “But I also think journalists should do their job and it looks like Jane Mayer had a totally different experience reporting on Al Franken than Brett Kavanaugh … I just want us to hold everyone to the same standard of due process.”