Meghan McCain Says Lindsey Graham 'Doesn't Get to Speak for Me' After Comments About Dad's Funeral

Meghan McCain is opening up about her decision to hit back at Sen. Lindsey Graham on social media after he responded to her comments about Ivanka Trump and Jared Kusher attending the funeral of her late father, John McCain.

During an appearance on Fox News' Guy Benson's radio program on Thursday, the former "View" co-host discussed her recent criticism of Graham, who was a close friend of her dad.

In her recently released audio memoir, "Bad Republican," Meghan called Ivanka, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared "funeral crashers" when they went to her late father's service in 2018, suggesting the couple hadn't been invited by a family member.

"I saw Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner sitting toward the back," she said in the audiobook. "As far as I knew, they had not been invited by the family, but they showed up anyway ... It never even crossed my mind that they would come. Why would you go to something like that? It seemed audacious even for them."

However, while speaking with The Washington Post earlier this week, Graham said that Ivanka and Jared's "presence was approved."

"She was upset they were there -- I understand that, and she has hard feelings but I know what happened and nobody showed up uninvited," he told the publication. "I love Meghan McCain and I understand how stressful all this has been for her and those who attack her dad will never be forgiven by her."

In response, Meghan took to Twitter on Wednesday and clapped back at Graham for chiming in.

"Lindsey Graham may consider himself a member of my family, but he is not and hasn't been for a very long time," she tweeted. "He certainly doesn't speak for me or my life experiences. Full stop. The media should stop treating him like he is an expert on anything McCain related."

On Wednesday night, Meghan shared another tweet, writing, "In life and in death I have pure, unadulterated loyalty to my father and my family. That's it. That's all you need to know. It is sad and unfortunate when private things are dragged out in public."

The Republican pundit further elaborated more about Graham during her conversation with Benson on Thursday.

"I mean, I don't know if I could hate it more. It's been horrible," Meghan said. "He had some things to say about some memories I have of my life -- apparently his memory of my life is different than the experience I had living my life."

The Daily Mail columnist said that while she doesn't "want to speak negatively of people who at one point in time were close" with her late father, she won't hesitate to "defend" herself.

"I will defend my work, and I will defend my life," Meghan said, "and he doesn't get to speak for me and like he's not a spokesperson for Meghan McCain or the McCain family, and you know, I don't want to go to like too deep into it, because honestly it's just been extremely emotionally taxing to have this happen."

She added, "I never ever would have brought something like this public in my life, because I think it's distasteful and just bizarre and gross, but I will defend myself if I need to."

The question of whether or not Ivanka and Jared were actually invited to McCain's funeral has been discussed in the past.

According to The New York Times, Graham "had cleared" Ivanka and Jared's invite with Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Senator and Meghan's mom.

Although it's been years, Meghan said the fact that Ivanka and Jared attended her father's funeral "still angers" her to this day.

"They should never have come, they had no business being there," she said while promoting "Bad Republican" on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," earlier this month. "They had no goddamn business being there and it's something that still angers me, clearly." I remember seeing them and seeing her specifically. They had no goddamn business being there and it's something that still angers me, clearly."