A White House official tried to make a joke out of Sen. John McCain’s battle with brain cancer, according to a new report.
As communications staffers discussed the Arizona Republican’s public opposition to Gina Haspel’s nomination as CIA director in a closed-door meeting Thursday, special assistant Kelly Sadler mocked his illness, sources tell The Hill.
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler is quoted as saying.
The off-color joke led to “discomfort” in the room, the site reports.
The White House didn’t deny the remarks.
“We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time,” it said in a statement to The Hill.
The leak comes the same day a military analyst came under fire for saying torture “worked” on McCain when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
“The fact is, is John McCain — it worked on John. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John,’” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said on the Fox Business show “Making Money.”