Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tore into the White House on Sunday for its lack of an apology for a staffer’s comment mocking Sen. John McCain, who’s battling brain cancer.
“It is one thing in the White House for somebody to say something crude and stupid and disrespectful about an American hero,” Sanders said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It is another thing for them not to apologize.”
{mosads}“It is beyond my comprehension,” he added. “And I just don’t know what goes on in that White House mentality for there not being an apology for that terrible remark.”
The Hill reported last week that White House aide Kelly Sadler said in a meeting that McCain’s opinions about President Trump’s CIA nominee, Gina Haspel, didn’t matter because he is “dying anyway.”
McCain has expressed harsh opposition to Haspel over her involvement in the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program during the George W. Bush administration.
Sadler reportedly called Meghan McCain to apologize for the comment about her father, but the White House has yet to directly address it.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged questions about the remark in Friday’s press briefing, and other Trump administration officials have passed the comment off as a “bad joke,” lamenting instead the leaks coming from the White House.