Meghan McCain spent years attacking political journalist Mark Halperin over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Now, she says she’s eager to work with him.
Halperin announced on Sunday that he had hired McCain, journalist Michael Moynihan, and a Free Press audio producer for his media startup 2WAY.
McCain has repeatedly—and publicly—referenced an accusation that Halperin pressed his erect penis against a woman’s shoulder.
ADVERTISEMENT
Halperin has denied the allegation, though he admitted to inappropriately pursuing relationships with women at work. Nevertheless, MSNBC dropped him, and Showtime replaced him on its political documentary series The Circus.
In a statement to The Independent, McCain said she had “grown and evolved” since making the remarks and was excited to partner with Halperin, who co-authored the 2010 book Game Change that partially detailed her father, John McCain’s, presidential campaign.
“Like Mark, at this point in my life I believe in giving people the presumption of grace and forgiveness as I would like it in return,” she said. “I have had the fortune and misfortune of having every single thing I’ve ever done since I was 22 well-documented on the Internet and thrown back in my face by people like you.”
“I am also thrilled to be joining such an innovative platform like 2WAY with such open-minded and respectful people in a time of extreme censorship and partisan politics,” she continued.
A 2WAY representative did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
McCain’s twice-weekly show launches next week, she said on X, and will air at 5 p.m.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be officially joining the team,” she wrote on X.
McCain’s past contempt for Halperin found forums both online and on The View, where McCain was previously a co-host. After learning that CNN host Michael Smerconish was set to interview Halperin on his radio show in 2019, McCain took to Twitter to bash him: “Did he put his genitalia on anyone’s shoulder while he was there?”
She repeated the claim during a March 2020 episode of The View, lumping Halperin in with a number of other NBC News personalities to claim that bad actors were more plentiful at NBC than at her previous employer, Fox News.
“Mark Halperin put his, allegedly, erect penis on a woman’s shoulder, and he was fired,” McCain said, referencing an alleged 2004 incident during Halperin’s time as ABC News' political director. “Yeah, look it up.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then read a disclaimer noting that Halperin had denied the allegation, prompting McCain to double down: “I said ‘allegedly’ … he was allegedly accused of that disgusting act.”
She also expressed her frustration in the Daily Beast, where she wrote in 2012 that Halperin and Game Change co-writer John Heilemann relied on stories from “disgruntled staffers” who had “more likely than not” not witnessed the events they wrote about.
“I have no problem if the people actually there wanted to retell their stories,” McCain wrote. “I do, however, have a problem with reporters who were not present and have an obvious bias capitalizing on things that more than likely never happened.”
Halperin seemed unbothered by McCain’s past critiques when he announced her hiring, telling Semafor the series of hires was “just the start.”
“Throughout 2025, 2WAY will bring on other exciting content creators and organizational partners to expand our content verticals, our distribution channels, and the reach of 2WAY,” he said.
