The View’s Meghan McCain was critical of the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer on Tuesday following her detailed report about disgraced formersenator, Al Franken.
Mayer’s piece from Monday defended Franken against the allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced last winter. The article broke down a couple of inconsistencies in Leeann Tweeden’s account of events, but it barely scratched the surface on the allegations that came from seven other women.
“That piece only focuses on Leeann Tweeden, who everyone knows, at least I think during the time, that she’s a friend of mine. It doesn’t talk about the seven other women who accused him of sexual misconduct, two while he was a sitting senator,” McCain began.
“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 has been panned because the only corroborating witness in the Kavanaugh article said that he had heard the story from someone who had been there, but that person said they didn’t remember it now. That was her article about Brett Kavanaugh,” she continued.
“So it’s very tricky. And 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,” McCain added. “It’s not focusing on the seven other women at the same time. And I don’t think that #MeToo and sexual assault should be about which party you vote in the general election.”
Back in September, Mayer and Ronan Farrow published a piece also in the New Yorker detailing another woman’s claims of sexual misconduct against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Deborah Ramirez alleged that Kavanaugh “exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party,” but “her memory contained gaps.” She was also “reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty,” but did after nearly a week.
McCain later added, “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 she does Brett Kavanaugh. And that’s my biggest problem other than the obvious allegations of sexual misconduct.”
