No White House apology over Kelly’s McCain remarks
washington — Family and congressional colleagues pushed back on Friday against attacks on cancer-stricken John McCain, including one by a White House aide who reportedly said the senator’s opposition to a presidential nominee did not matter because “he’s dying anyway.”
Amid rising bipartisan fury, the White House declined to apologise, or to acknowledge that the comments attributed by US media to White House communications aide Kelly Sadler were even made.
Sadler’s apparent remark came after McCain announced his opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel over her role in Bushera
People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday. Joe Biden, former vice-president
enhanced interrogation techniques.
CNN quoted a White House official as saying Sadler, speaking on Thursday at a staff meeting, meant the comment as a joke but that it flopped.
Another extraordinary attack against McCain by a fellow military veteran and commentator also stunned much of Washington, when retired US Air Force lieutenant general Thomas McInerney said he knows torture works because it made McCain spill sensitive information to his captors during his years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “The fact is, with John McCain, it worked on John. That’s why they call him Songbird John,” McInerney said Thursday on Fox Business Network.
The attacks, remarkable for their bluntness, triggered swift reaction from across the political spectrum, with lawmakers demanding an apology from President Donald Trump.
“People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday,” said Democratic former vice president Joe Biden, who served with McCain for decades in the Senate.
“Given this White House’s trail of disrespect towards John and others, this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it.” Trump’s press secretary offered no contrition when asked about the flap. “I’m not going to validate a leak, one way or the other, out of an internal staff meeting,” Sarah Sanders told reporters. —