As law enforcement investigates suspicious packages containing “potential explosive devices” addressed to Hillary and Bill Clinton, former President Barack Obama and CNN, “The View” co-host Meghan McCain compared these threats to getting heckled in a restaurant.
The Secret Service indicated that the devices were sent to the Clintons’ home in the New York City suburbs late Tuesday and former President Barack Obama’s office in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday. A similar package was also reportedly found near the home of philanthropist George Soros and detonated by a bomb quad.
On Wednesday, the “The View” hosts discussed President Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward journalists and what role that may have played in these incidents.
“I’ve been texting with my former colleagues at CNN, and they’re scared,” said co-host Sunny Hostin. “One former colleague said, ‘This is what happens when the president calls you the enemy of the people.’ I thought, my gosh, you know, the tone is coming from the top.”
While co-host Abby Huntsman didn’t believe there was enough evidence to claim that there was a political motive behind the incidents, Hostin believes otherwise: “Fox News hasn’t gotten a bomb yet,” she said, before adding: “I don’t want them to get a bomb.”
Behar went on to say that the Republican Party needs to “stand up against” Trump’s remarks on the press being the enemy.
“Every time he says things like ‘The press is the enemy of the people,’ his entire party needs to stand up against him and say something,” said Behar. “[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, where is he? He’s the leader of this party.”
McCain interjected to say: “He’s getting harassed and heckled when he goes out in public to have dinner with his wife. So are we.”
The video of the segment above cuts out just before McCain says, “So are we.”
McCain’s remarks come after Fox News ran a segment Wednesday morning about “left-wing mobs” and protesters confronting McConnell at a restaurant.
The segment had a tinge of irony when Brad Blakeman, former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, said that his fear “is that intimidation turns to violence,” in reference to McConnell’s treatment. Immediately after he said that, the segment was interrupted for breaking news that the White House condemned the bombs sent to the Clintons, Obamas and elsewhere.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misattributed a quote from Sunny Hostin to Joy Behar.