'Very dangerous': Big-name conservative rips MAGA pundit's 'disgusting' Epstein defense

Meghan McCain — the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — recently singled out a popular MAGA-aligned commentator over her attempt to soften deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.

The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that on the newest episode of her podcast, McCain took SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly to task for her implication that Epstein's sex crimes against minors were not as monstrous as the media made them out to be. The former Fox News host argued earlier this month that she agreed with an unnamed source who told her that Epstein's preying on teenage girls was nuanced, saying: "There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old."

"I’m just giving you facts that he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds," Kelly said. "But he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passerby."

McCain — a former panelist on The View — acknowledged the backlash to Kelly's remarks and condemned the conservative commentator for attempting to downplay Epstein's history of predatory behavior toward underage girls. She observed that Kelly was pushing the discourse into "very dangerous territory" with her comments.

"Are we going to have a discussion about if a 15-year-old is a kid or not and what implications it means if you’re a man who’s attracted to a 15-year-old, like is that somehow better than a 5-year-old?" McCain said.

"It’s all vile. It’s all disgusting. It’s all unacceptable. It all should put you in jail," she continued.

McCain went on to say that Kelly's Epstein defense was "obviously insane," that "barely legal" was not a legal term, and that there should be no parsing of the seriousness of someone who exploited underage girls.

"Fifteen is a kid. And the idea that in any situation a 15-year-old should be considered anything except a child — I just don’t understand it," she said. "And it doesn’t matter what you and I think. It doesn’t matter what Megyn Kelly thinks. What matters is what the law says. And the law says that it’s 18 and under is considered a legal child.”

Click here to read the Beast's article in full (subscription required).