White House official mocks senator John McCain, says he is ‘dying anyway’

A White House aide is under fire after she mocked US senator John McCain’s brain cancer, dismissing the Republican’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Kelly Sadler, the aide who is part of the White House communications team, said in an internal, closed-door meeting, The Hill newspaper reported, adding that there was “discomfort” in the room following her remark.

Outside the room, Sadler’s comment was met with outrage.

“May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren,” Cindy McCain, the senator’s wife, tweeted.

The White House did not deny the remarks but said, “We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.”

McCain — who had been tortured after he was taken captive during the Vietnam War— had opposed Gina Haspel’s nomination as CIA director because she had once led a black site in Thailand, where terror suspects were held and subjected to enhanced interrogation and torture. Haspel had then proceeded to destroy more than 90 video tapes of such interrogations.

Sadler has not publicly issued an apology or a retraction, but is reported to have called the Arizona senator’s daughter Meghan McCain to apologise.

Critics of Trump and his administration pointed out that the aide might have felt emboldened to make that statement — even as a joke — because Trump himself has said some very offensive things about McCain. For example, as a candidate, Trump had said he did not think McCain was a war hero because he had been taken captive.