Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Tuesday he would have fired White House aide Kelly Sadler for her “obviously inappropriate” remark about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“Would you fire the person that said it?” Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto asked Paul on Tuesday.
“If they worked for me,” Paul responded.
Last week, the Hill reported that White House special assistant Kelly Sadler mocked McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis at an internal meeting.
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said of McCain during a conversation about the Arizona senator’s opposition of Trump’s controversial pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel.
Paul told Cavuto Tuesday that despite their longtime combativeness towards one another, both he and McCain oppose Haspel’s nomination.
“John McCain and I have had many spirited disagreements, but we actually do agree on torture and Gina Haspel,” Paul told Cavuto.
Cavuto then asked Paul what he thought of the White House shifting the focus to the comment being leaked to the media, rather than the disparaging remark itself.
[Also read: Kellyanne Conway: I expect White House personnel changes due to leaks]
“Well, it is important that you be able to discuss things behind closed doors and that you have not have everything said in public,” Paul said.
“But I think they are both a problem, both the insulting nature of what was said and the leak,” the Kentucky senator added.
McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, late last year and has been at home in Arizona recovering after treatment.
