Meghan McCain Slams Ivanka Trump’s Handling Of Her Father’s Sexual Misconduct Allegations

During a recent interview with NBC News, Ivanka Trump was asked if she believed the allegations against her father Donald Trump. So far, 16 women have accused the president of sexual misconduct. The eldest Trump daughter dismissed the question as “inappropriate” before saying that she loves and believes her father. In light of this recent interview and the questions of nepotism surrounding the Trump family, The View decided to dive into Ivanka Trump’s answer. Was that interview question inappropriate or acceptable?

In her full answer, Ivanka Trump cited her relationship as Trump’s daughter as the reason why the reporter shouldn’t have asked her:

“I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated that there’s no truth to it,” she said in the NBC News interview. “I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters. I believe my father, I know my father. So I think I have that right as a daughter to believe her father.”

For once, it seemed that all of the women of The View were in agreement about this one. Sunny Hostin seemed to sum up the hosts’ feelings about Ivanka’s response and role in the White House the best. “I think it was completely fair game,” Hostin said. “Her platform is about helping women.”

“You can’t just toggle on the daughter switch when you’re in an uncomfortable situation,” guest Patton Oswalt added.

However, the most interesting insight about this debate came from the only person on The View who has been the daughter of a political figure — Meghan McCain. Unsurprisingly, McCain started off her response by shooting down Joy Behar‘s claims that Ivanka Trump secretly does believe her father’s accusers. “I don’t think we can pontificate on how she feels because we don’t know,” she said.

She then dove into her personal experience on the matter. “I will say that being the spouse or son or daughter of a politician is very tricky because you either take on the surrogate role or you take on the son or daughter role,” she said. She defined being a surrogate as someone who does interviews with the press, goes on the campaign trail, and works as an extension of their parents’ political office.

McCain pointed to Chelsea Clinton as a surrogate who was met with a fair amount of criticism in 2008. “She was kind of playing both hats, so this has happened before,” she said.

At this point, Behar tried to interrupt McCain, who became visibly frustrated before diving into her next point. “Ivanka Trump’s problem right now is that she has an official capacity in the White House, as you said. She is working literally as an adviser in the office of the West Wing,” she said. “She has continually said that ‘I don’t see myself as a political person.'”

McCain even had some advice for how Ivanka Trump should have spun the NBC News question. “There’s a way for her to spin this. ‘OK Peter. I’m a daughter. As a daughter, I trust and love my father. As an adviser, let me tell you how this is politically harmful for my family and for the White House,” she said. “The thing that always exacerbates me with this administration is that it’s so evident that their children aren’t political media trained — they’re clearly media trained to protect a brand, as you said … but there’s no political protection.”

You can watch the full segment above.

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