Aide who said McCain is ‘dying’ still employed at White House
WASHINGTON >> The White House on Friday declined to condemn comments made by a special assistant to President Donald Trump dismissing Sen. John McCain’s opinion during a closed-door meeting because, she said, “he’s dying anyway.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she would not comment on an internal staff meeting, but said that Kelly Sadler, the aide in question, remains a White House staffer.
“I’m not going to validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting one way or the other,” she said.
Sadler was discussing McCain’s opposition to Trump’s pick for CIA director, Gina Haspel, at a communications staff meeting on Thursday when she said that, “it doesn’t matter” because “he’s dying anyway,” two people in the room confirmed to The Associated Press.
The people, who were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, described feeling shocked and stunned by the remark. The White House
had released a more supportive statement Thursday evening that said, “We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.”
The 81-year-old Arizona Republican, who has spent three decades in the Senate, was diagnosed in July with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. He left Washington in December and underwent surgery last month for an infection.
Sadler is a special assistant to the president. She did not respond to requests for comment Thursday evening or Friday. The incident came the same day a retired Air Force general called McCain “songbird John” during an appearance on Fox Business Network for allegedly providing information to the North Vietnamese while he was a prisoner of war. A Fox spokeswoman said Friday that retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney will no longer be allowed on the network.
McCain’s wife, Cindy, responded with a tweet tagged to Sadler, “May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.” And McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, weighed in on “The View.” Addressing the statements from both McInerney and Sadler, she said: “I don’t understand the kind of environment you’re working in where that would be acceptable and you can come to work the next day and still have a job.”
“My father’s legacy is going to be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years,” she added. “These people? Nothingburgers.”
Sen. McCain, a Navy pilot who was beaten in captivity during the Vietnam War, has urged his fellow senators to reject Haspel. He said Wednesday he believes she’s a patriot who loves the country but “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”