‘The View’s’ Meghan McCain Takes On Michael Wolff: “This Is Why People Hate Journalists”

For the past week (few weeks? months? who knows?), all political discussions have been obsessed with the book the Trump administration does not want you to read, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. The controversial book has critics on all sides of the spectrum (conservatives debunk it as fiction, liberals aren’t happy with Wolff’s rule-breaking reporting style, all readers are annoyed with the rushed book’s many typos), and Wolff has been facing those critics during the release’s accompanying press tour.

One of those critics is The View co-host Meghan McCain. The outspoken conservative had no problem telling Wolff exactly what she thought of him and the press in his sit-down on the show.

“I’m not saying that they aren’t idiots for letting you around and giving you that kind of access,” said McCain, who said she would never go to a journalists home and start “dishing” about private matters and politics. But she wanted to clarify something: did Wolff invite ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and the late Fox News chairman Roger Ailes to dinner at his home as friends and, if so, why did he report on a conversation that was understood to be off-the-record?

Wolff straight-up says that the dinner was off-the-record, which prompted McCain to quickly interject, “This is why people hate journalists, by the way. It’s why I don’t believe in the concept of off-the-record, this right here.” One, maybe two people in the audience viewed this comment as applause worthy, making the moment seem… awkward.

Wolff then defended his choice to report on an off-the-record dinner, saying that Roger Ailes passed away and his “off-the-record” pact with Ailes died with him. On top of that, Wolff claims that Bannon came to him and said, “You’re gonna put that on the record and use that, that was history.” That was enough for Wolff to justify putting an initially off-the-record conversation into his book.

Also in the clip, Wolff kinda takes credit for Bannon getting ousted from the White House. As one of Wolff’s key sources, Bannon was open about how frustrated he found working in the White House to be. “Shortly after arriving in this White House, [Bannon] began to understand that … Trumpism and Donald Trump were at a significant distance from each other. I think Steve wrestled with that in very, very tough ways. Ultimately, I was the recipient of his enormous frustration.”