Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) daughter and “The View” co-host Meghan McCain said she is done accepting “private” apologies from the White House and she will never forgive President Trump and his administration for public attacks on her father.
“[Trump’s] comments are never going to be OK with me, especially at this moment in my life. I’m never going to forgive it. I’m never going to move on from it,” she said during an interview at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library in Austin, Texas, where she accepted the LBJ Liberty and Justice for All Award on behalf of her father.
Trump has mocked John McCain multiple times since his presidential campaign, including since the senator was diagnosed with brain cancer. Most recently, Trump commented on him at a rally last weekend.
Meghan McCain also said that she has ceased taking private phone calls from members of the Trump administration after aide Kelly Sadler, who joked about her father’s brain cancer, promised a public apology but never followed through.
“If anyone [at the White House] wants to say anything to me in any way, they have to do it publicly. I don’t take private phone calls from the Trump Administration anymore,” McCain said.
The White House was ensnared by controversy earlier this year when The Hill reported that Sadler, a former Washington Times opinion editor who worked on the White House communications staff, reportedly joked about the senator’s ailing health during a meeting.
The White House responded by tamping down on leaks to the press from the communications staff and Sadler eventually left the White House job.
McCain blasted Sadler on “The View” before her exit, noting that Sadler had promised a public apology for her comment but never delivered.
“When I had a conversation with Kelly, I asked her to publicly apologize and she said she would,” McCain said last month. “I have not spoken to her since and I assume that it will never come.”
“I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in when that would be acceptable and then you could come to work the next day and still have a job,” she added. “And that’s all I have to say about it.”