Meghan McCain and Seth Meyers lock horns over Rep. Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitic statements: 'Are you her publicist?'
Meghan McCain, daughter of late Senator John McCain and conservative co-host on 'The View', locked horns with talk show host Seth Meyers Wednesday morning over her criticisms of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, who has repeatedly been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks.
The argument reached a point where McCain asked the NBC host if he was the fresher congresswoman's "publicist", Fox News reports.
Meyers discussed McCain's commentary on ABC's 'This Week' after the horrific synagogue shooting at the Poway, California last month.
While giving her two cents on the discourse surrounding the shooting, McCain invoked Omar's tweets and said lawmakers from both sides of the aisle should come together and tackle anti-Semitism within their own party ranks.
"I do think it's fairly dangerous and you brought it up after Congresswoman Omar had some death threats against her," Meyers said. "Do you think, you know... She has obviously now stated that she needs to be more careful with her language... Don't you think other people who talk about her need to be more thoughtful as well? Or do you stand by those comments of tying her to this, her rhetoric to this synagogue shooting?"
"I don't think I tied her to it in particular," McCain said in response. "I'm calling out what I see as anti-Semitic language and when you're talking about..."
"But you called her out even after she apologized for it," said Meyers, interrupting McCain. "I do want to establish the timeline."
"I think that Democrats are hedging on this and I think it's very dangerous," McCain continued. "And I think [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and I are in alignment about Israel's stance in geopolitical politics. I think it is of the utmost importance and I think she is bringing her party to extremism on this. And I think we have to look to Europe and what's happening over there and in British politics. Anti-Semitism is very common and I see it happening over there and I worry about it happening over here. I stand by everything that I've said and if that makes me unpopular in this room or in front of you, so be it."
Meyers then called McCain's argument "weird" and asked whether she was trying to be "popular" after he attempted to "find common ground" between the two.
"Were you bothered by her language on 9/11?" McCain asked.
"I thought it was taken out of context," Meyers replied, "and I think if you watched that whole speech..."
"Would you give President Trump the same leverage if he had said the same thing?" McCain challenged him. "I just think you have to give people the same credence."
Meyers then doubled down saying President Trump had to look at his own language about 9/11 before criticizing Omar's language about the tragic event. According to him, Omar has since apologized and promised to be more educated "by people who know about this" while the commander-in-chief hasn't.
"It's an interesting thing when we have two Muslim women for the first time, they do have a different perspective on things," Meyers continued. "And I think when we talk about the idea of 'Let's all try to meet in the middle on things,' we have to listen to other people's perspective."
"I agree, I work on 'The View' with Joy Behar every day," McCain responded. "I listen to other people's perspectives all the time."
Meyers then asked her if there was a way to "talk about Israel" without being labeled anti-Semitic. McCain told him to stop talking about "Jews hypnotizing the world" and "all about the Benjamins."
"You do keep bringing up the two tweets she apologized for," Meyers told McCain, "and I think it's a little unfair to her, especially because..."
"Are you her publicist?" McCain shot back. "Are you her press person?"
"No," Meyers responded. "I'm just someone who cares about the fact that there's someone out there who is in a minority, who has had death threats against her, and I think we should all use the same language that you're asking her to be careful about her language. And I would ask everyone to be careful about theirs."