John McCain’s Family Hits Out At Trump Aide For ‘Mocking’ His Cancer
The remark from Special Assistant to the President Kelly Sadler came during a meeting to discuss the nominee for CIA director, according to US media.
Mr McCain was tortured during the war in Vietnam, and opposes the CIA nominee due to her waterboarding record.
Meghan McCain suggested that the aide should lose her White House job.
“Kelly, news flash, We’re all dying…It’s not how you die, it’s how you live,” she said on Friday’s episode of the TV programme The View, referring to the White House aide.
“The thing that surprised me most is, I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in where that would be acceptable, and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job,” the co-host continued.
On Thursday, the Arizona senator’s wife took to Twitter to call out Ms Sadler’s comment, which US media reported was a failed attempt at a joke.
“May I remind you my husband has a family,” Cindy McCain wrote.
She tweeted at Ms Sadler, adding that the former Republican presidential candidate has seven children and five grandchildren.
Mr McCain, 81, has been diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, and has been resting at his family retreat in Sedona, Arizona in recent weeks.
The comment was first reported in the Hill newspaper, which added that Ms Sadler had called the senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain, to apologise.
The White House responded to the report in a statement and did not dispute that Ms Sadler made the comment at a meeting.
“We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time,” the statement said.