Meghan McCain attends the 2023 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images for TIME)

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice

Conservative pundit Meghan McCain announced over the weekend that she “couldn’t be more excited” to join 2way, the media startup run by political journalist Mark Halperin — whom McCain previously derided after he was hit by sexual harassment allegations.

Besides taking issue with the sexual misconduct claims in the past, McCain has also criticized her new boss for Game Change, the best-selling book Halperin co-authored with John Heilemann that chronicled the 2008 election and prominently featured her late father and GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

“With age comes wisdom and different perspectives on people. I am now a 40 year old mother of two. I have grown and evolved like everyone else, particularly in the past five years — Mark has also grown and evolved,” McCain said in a statement to The Independent. “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. 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.”

She added: “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.”

open image in gallery

Meghan McCain is joining the media startup run by political journalist Mark Halperin, who she’s previously criticized for his alleged sexual misconduct and reporting on her late father. (Getty Images for TIME)

Having “scraped his way back” to prominence following a #MeToo exile that saw him lose cushy gigs with NBC News and Showtime in 2017 following more than a dozen allegations of sexual harassment and assault, Halperin revealed this weekend that he was bringing McCain and journalist Michael Moynihan to 2way. The new hires, which will expand the platform’s “growing roster of ongoing bipartisan conversations,” come after 2Way recently raised $4 million of seed money and brought on former Free Press audio and video chief Alex Chitty to handle the company’s strategy and operations.

“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,” Halperin told Semafor.

McCain, who has made several appearances on 2way in recent months, declared her excitement on Sunday over the opportunity to work for Halperin going forward.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be officially joining the team @2waytvapp & @MarkHalperin — my new show launches next week and will be live twice a week at 5pm for the “happy hour”!” McCain tweeted. “Live audience interaction in the spirit of @2waytvapp!”

It was just a few years ago, though, when the former host of The View didn’t have such a rosy opinion of Halperin. For instance, after radio host Michael Smerconish — one of Halperin’s media pals — announced that Halperin would be on his program in August 2019, McCain fired back with a snarky post.

“Did he put his genitalia on anyone’s shoulder while he was there?” McCain wrote, referencing an allegation that Halperin pressed his penis against a woman’s shoulder during the 2004 election cycle when he served as ABC News political director.

Several months later, McCain once again referenced the alleged incident while talking on The View about longtime MSNBC host Chris Matthews’ sudden departure amid resurfaced claims of sexism and harassment. During the segment, McCain argued that sexual harassment at NBC News was “way worse” than at Fox News, which has seen a number of prominent hosts and executives leave in shame amid sexual misconduct accusations and settlements.

“Mark Halperin put his, allegedly, erect penis on a woman’s shoulder, and he was fired,” McCain exclaimed during the March 2020 broadcast. “Yeah, look it up.”

After co-host Whoopi Goldberg read a legal disclaimer noting that Halperin has denied making unwanted physical contact with female colleagues, McCain added: “I said allegedly… he was allegedly accused of that disgusting act.”

When the allegations first came out against Halperin in the fall of 2017, the veteran reporter issued a lengthy apology in which he said he was “part of the problem” of men harming women in the workplace during his time at ABC News, adding that he acknowledged and “deeply” regretted his actions. At the same time, though, he stated that “some of the allegations that have been made against me are not true.”

“Toward the end of my time at ABC News, I recognized I had a problem,” Halperin continued. “No one had sued me, no one had filed a human resources complaint against me, no colleague had confronted me. But I didn’t need a call from HR to know that I was a selfish, immature person, who was behaving in a manner that had to stop.”

McCain hasn’t just slammed Halperin for allegedly being a sex pest. When HBO made Game Change into a miniseries in 2011 starring Ed Harris as her father, she sounded off about the “problem” she had with the production and Halperin’s book.

In an op-ed for The Daily Beast, McCain stated that she was upset that Halperin, who she described as a “man I had only heard of in name and was not an embed on the campaign,” had the temerity to reach out to her shortly after the 2008 election to ask “what really happened” during the campaign. “Reporters aren’t generally known for their sensitivity and tact, but I can remember thinking, nice timing sir,” she wrote.

She also dismissed the book as being based on the recollections of “disgruntled staffers” who rehashed “stories they had not directly witnessed themselves” before taking another swipe at Halperin and Heilemann. “I have no problem if the people actually there wanted to retell their stories,” McCain stated. “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 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.