Politico Claims Meghan McCain Was ‘Snubbed’ By Biden Team on Vaccine Outreach — White House Sources Say That’s Not True

Politico posted an item claiming that President Joe Biden’s administration “snubbed” The View co-host Meghan McCain, while giving Whoopi Goldberg “the VIP treatment” in the effort to increase confidence in the Covid vaccines — but White House sources refute, and Politico’s own reporting undermines, that claim.

On Friday morning, Politico Playbook — authored by Tara Palmeri, Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade, and Ryan Lizza — featured a banner headline read “W.H. gives Whoopi the VIP treatment — but snubs Meghan McCain.”

The item features a complaint from an unnamed “The View insider” that when McCain offered to be vaccinated live on the air, she didn’t hear back, but Whoopi Goldberg was “treated to a private briefing” on vaccination messaging.

McCain, we’re told, didn’t hear back from the White House after offering to get vaccinated on air alongside her brother JIMMY MCCAIN. She wanted to be in sync with the Biden administration on its vaccination efforts before airing such a segment.

McCain “just wanted to help with messaging and encouraging Republicans to get it, and the show wanted it too,” said a “View” insider. The apparent snub was all the more notable because McCain’s mother, CINDY MCCAIN, is being vetted to be an ambassador for the Biden administration to the U.N. World Food Programme after her endorsement of JOE BIDEN in the general election.

“They should have given all of ‘The View’ hosts this training, not just Whoopi,” the insider said.

But their item undermines its own premise by noting that at the time she made the offer, Ms. McCain was not eligible to be vaccinated — a fact that McCain herself highlighted in a poorly-received on-air rant around the time this discussion occurred.

According to White House sources, though, there was no “snub” or “VIP treatment” or anything of the sort, and Politico was told this but did not include it in their reporting.

McCain’s outreach came in early March, and the White House did respond through McCain’s representatives to say that she was not eligible for the vaccine. But crucially, the White House told The View that they would be happy to include McCain once she became eligible.

This would have been a week or two after McCain ranted on-air that “The fact that I, Meghan McCain, co-host of ‘The View,’ I don’t know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine because the rollout for my age range and my health is so nebulous, I have no idea when and how I can get it. I want to get it. If you call me at 3 o’clock in the morning, I will go any place at any time to get it.”

It also appears to conflict with her earlier distaste for those who would jump the line for the vaccine, a point she stressed repeatedly on Twitter, including a yuletide message that read “Merry Christmas to everyone except healthy people under 65 getting the vaccine before our frontline workers who have sacrificed everything for our country this year.”

“Of course we want conservatives to get vaccinated,” one White House source told me, and while they welcomed McCain’s eventual participation, the source pointed out that local messengers are much more effective than celebrities — even former President Donald Trump.

And when it comes to influencing Republicans, it’s fair to say that Meghan McCain is no Donald Trump.

“She literally couldn’t do it because she was not eligible, and by the time that they wanted to do it, The View had moved on,” the source said. Goldberg and McCain had already been vaccinated, and the show wanted to go in a different direction. Since then, multiple Biden administration officials have appeared on the show, including CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

As for Whoopi Goldberg’s “VIP treatment,” the sources say this was a virtual call that was arranged by Ms. Goldberg’s manager, and that no such request was  made by Ms. McCain or her representatives.

So to recap: Meghan McCain wasn’t “snubbed,” the White House did respond, they offered to do the segment once she was eligible, The View declined. And Politico was provided with all of this information.

Watch McCain’s February remarks above via ABC.