"View" host Meghan McCain argued on Wednesday that Cyrus Vance, a former district attorney for New York, should face stiff penalties if he gave special treatment to Jeffrey Epstein.
"I think he should rot in jail," McCain said of Epstein, who has pleaded not guilty. "And anyone who helped aid and abet him -- across the board -- and if that's like Cyrus Vance here in New York, his office, whomever let this happen to this many girls because this guy was wealthy and powerful, they should all rot in jail."
Vance is among a growing group of federal prosecutors nationwide who have come under fresh scrutiny in the wake of sex trafficking charges against Epstein.
Just three years after Epstein's plea deal, a sex crimes prosecutor, Assistant Manhattan DA Jennifer Gaffney, pleaded with a federal judge to allow Epstein to downgrade his registered-sex-offender status from Level 3 to the lowest possible classification, Level 1, despite an assessment by a Florida board.
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Despite the assessment that Epstein was a dangerous sex offender likely to prey on young women again, Vance's office argued on his behalf.
Vance's office later backpedaled on its stance in favor of Epstein and filed a change-of-heart brief agreeing that he should be registered as a Level 3 sex offender, arguing that "a combination of a mistaken interpretation of the governing legal standards and certain secondhand information about the Florida case" led the office to determine inaccurately that a Level 1 registration was sufficient.
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McCain commented that Epstein's alleged crimes were "hard to talk about" because they were "so vile."
"The View" hosts have been very vocal about their opinions on the Epstein case. On Tuesday, the co-hosts called for Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's resignation for signing off on Epstein's "sweetheart" plea deal as a prosecutor in 2008.
Co-host Sunny Hostin argued that the plea deal allowed Epstein's "new victims to be victimized."
Fox News' Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.
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