Mccain flap overshadows Trump’s GOP lunch

WASHINGTON — Last fall, when President Donald Trump headed to Capitol Hill for the Senate Republican lunch, he was feuding with the chair of the foreign relations panel and tweeted that the man — Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — couldn’t get elected dog catcher.

On Tuesday, he dropped in on the weekly GOP lunch entangled in a controversy over an aide’s comment disparaging ailing GOP Sen. John Mccain. At least one attendee said the Mccain flap never came up, but several of the GOP leaders have said it’s past time for an apology from the White House.

“The smart thing to do would have been five days ago to just nip it in the bud and come out and apologize for it,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.

Trump’s Capitol Hill lunch Tuesday with Senate Republicans comes as the White House and its GOP allies are trying to coalesce around a political message ahead of the midterm elections. Also on the agenda is a push to get Senate approval on Trump’s nominee for CIA director, as well as Trump’s upcoming summit with North Korea.

But much like when Trump was headed to the GOP Senate lunch to talk policy in October , the White House agenda was eclipsed by another story.

During a meeting last week White House communications aide Kelly Sadler dismissed Mccain’s opposition to the CIA nominee by saying of the Arizona Republican: “He’s dying anyway.” Mccain, 81, has glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Sadler has apologized to the McCain family privately, but Mccain’s daughter has asked for a public apology. The White House has said it has dealt with the matter internally — but has refused to say how.

The issue has left many senators, including Mitch Mcconnell, unsettled. The “person who said that should apologize and apologize publicly,” the Senate majority leader said.