Things got heated Friday on The View when conservative co-host Meghan McCain angrily confronted Baywatch star Pamela Anderson over Julian Assange, calling the WikiLeaks founder a “cyberterrorist” who has put America’s security at risk.
Anderson, who has repeatedly declared her love for Assange, told The View panel that Assange’s health is “really deteriorating” since he was booted from the Ecuadorian embassy and imprisoned on conspiracy charges.
“It’s devastating that people have fallen for this smear campaign especially in America,” she added. “I feel like an outsider looking in, looking at how America has embraced all this—this propaganda.”
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After the actress said that Assange—whom she calls the “most innocent man in the world”—really inspired her as an activist and that powerful people want to “keep him quiet,” McCain jumped in to say Ecuador kicked him out of their embassy because he was “defecating everywhere.”
“That’s a smear campaign—that’s not true,” Anderson shot back before asking what McCain would do if she were locked in a room for six years.
“Well, I wouldn’t be a cyberterrorist, which he is,” the conservative host retorted. “He hacked information. His leaks included classified documents that put our national security at risk, our military and the lives of spies and diplomats at risk.”
Anderson, meanwhile, countered by asking McCain how many people America’s national security has “killed innocently” compared to WikiLeaks, prompting a moderate round of applause from the audience, including a whoop from one man.
“Oh calm down, sir!” McCain sneered back at the man.
After Anderson contended that Assange has exposed war crimes and they need to be punished, she was challenged by the rest of the panel over her boyfriend’s role in the 2016 election and whether she believed he was purposely helping Donald Trump win. Besides asserting that Assange isn’t a Trump supporter and would have exposed information damaging to Trump if he had it, Anderson also insisted that Assange never put anybody at risk.
“He put people in danger by refusing to redact sensitive information including Social Security numbers and other private material,” liberal co-host Joy Behar noted, causing Anderson to say The New York Times and others did the same thing.
At the end of the segment, after Anderson said Assange isn’t meddling in other countries’ politics and is merely a “publisher” that “supports whistleblowers,” McCain got in one final parting shot.
“He’s a cyberterrorist. I’ll say it! I’ll say it!” McCain shouted towards the crowd. “I’m not going to stand by this. It’s ridiculous.”
The segment concluded, meanwhile, with co-host Abby Huntsman saying they were going to have a “little bit of fun” with Anderson after the commercial break as McCain grumbled and sat with her arms crossed.
