Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney defended a White House aide’s “dying” joke about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Saturday, saying officials should have “some freedom” to speak “candidly” in private meetings.
Fox News’ Neil Cavuto asked Mulvaney about White House aide Kelly Sadler joking that it doesn’t matter if McCain opposes President Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, because “he’s dying anyway.”
Mulvaney called the comment “awful” but quickly jumped to defend Sadler’s remarks as a “joke” made in a “private meeting.”
“Lets look at this in context, that was said in a private meeting inside the White House,” Mulvaney said. “It’s not like, you might say something really nasty about me off the air and it really doesn’t have that much impact. You come on-air and say it officially now that’s a problem.”
Mulvaney added: “It was a joke. It was a badly considered joke, an awful joke, that she said fell flat.”
The budget director later said that he is “disappointed” that someone leaked the comment from the private meeting.
“You have to have some freedom to speak in a private meeting, to speak candidly,” Mulvaney said.
Weeks ago, Mulvaney himself came under fire after a private speech was leaked where he said that as a congressman, he only met with lobbyists who donated to his campaign.
“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mulvaney said, according to the New York Times. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”
