Senate Republicans are urging the White House to offer an official apology to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., days after a staffer joked about his death as he receives treatment for brain cancer.
During a meeting, White House staffer Kelly Sadler said McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel, the nominee to head the CIA, didn’t matter because he is “dying anyway.” Senate Republicans are joining many others who have called on the White House to formally apologize despite officials’ claims that the remarks are an internal matter.
“I can’t help but make this suggestion. I think long-term, in the history of this country, when we think of duty, honor and country, we will also think of John McCain,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told reporters while standing with a group of Senate Republicans.
Reporters asked Rounds whether he is frustrated by the White House’s handling of the situation.
“Personally, yes,” Rounds replied. “Because I think this man is deserving of our respect and I think that sense of how we respond to individuals who have not been treated with respect is a message to the rest of the country. I know it’s probably not their style to make apologies, but I can tell you that the vast majority of Americans would say John McCain deserves our respect and that’s from the top to the bottom.”
Unprompted, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he agreed with Rounds and said the remarks were “senseless comments.”
“Of course there should be an apology,” Sullivan said. “And I think more broadly, we need to be thinking less about kind of senseless comments and more about prayers for a great American, right? That’s what we should be focused on.
“This story can end itself pretty quickly and we should be thinking about keeping John McCain in our prayers,” he said.
The comments from both came hours before President Trump was set to appear at the Senate Republicans’ weekly luncheon at the Capitol. In the days since the comments were reported last week, the White House has focused more on the leak than the comments themselves, which the president and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, touched on Monday.
Thus far, the White House has maintained that the issue is an internal matter despite Sadler reportedly telling Meghan McCain that she would publicly apologize for the remark about her father. Sadler has yet to do so, however.
“I regret that comment by that employee. That certainly does not speak for this president or any of us in our caucus,” said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., pointing to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks Monday night on his visit with McCain over the weekend.
“He called him an American hero,” Perdue said. “I’m going to put an exclamation point on that and leave it at that.”
