...Wow
— Leanne Naramore (@LeanneNaramore) May 10, 2018
Conversation on Fox about torture: "It worked on John [McCain]. That's why they call him 'Songbird John'" https://t.co/OjCwhv2ZhI pic.twitter.com/WehsgPAqgb
A White House official mocked Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis at an internal meeting on Thursday, a day after the Arizona Republican announced his opposition to President Trump’s nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel.
Special assistant Kelly Sadler made the derisive comments during a closed-door White House meeting of about two-dozen communications staffers on Thursday morning.
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said, according to a source familiar with the remarks at the meeting.
The White House did not deny the account of Sadler’s remarks, which came amid a discussion of Haspel’s nomination and McCain’s opposition to it.
“We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time,” the White House said in a statement to The Hill.
Sadler did not respond to a request for comment and the White House did not make her available to The Hill.
The Thursday morning meeting was led by deputy press secretary Raj Shah. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was not present. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway showed up to the meeting after the remark was made, according to the first source.
A source who heard Sadler’s remarks could not confirm her exact wording, but agreed that Sadler made comments along the lines described by the first source.
Both sources said they believed the comment was intended as a joke, but that it did not go over well with others at the meeting.
There was “discomfort” in the room after Sadler’s comment and the conversation continued without addressing it, according to the second source.
Sadler is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times. At the White House, she focuses on illegal immigration, often sending out press releases to highlight stories about the issue to reporters.
The White House is engaged in a high-stakes nomination fight for Haspel, who faces opposition from many senators for her association with harsh interrogation techniques as a CIA agent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, urged his Senate colleagues to oppose Haspel’s nomination, saying that “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”
The president has long had a fraught relationship with McCain, who has been a sharp and unrelenting critic of Trump and his administration.
In a speech shortly after announcing his presidential bid in 2015, Trump responded to criticism from McCain by saying “he’s not a war hero” because he was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.
“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said at the time.
McCain’s office declined to comment on Sadler’s remark.
...Wow
— Leanne Naramore (@LeanneNaramore) May 10, 2018
Conversation on Fox about torture: "It worked on John [McCain]. That's why they call him 'Songbird John'" https://t.co/OjCwhv2ZhI pic.twitter.com/WehsgPAqgb