Thread: White House drafted a statement on John McCain, but never released it

White House drafted a statement on John McCain, but never released it

By Jeff Zeleny, Kate Sullivan and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 12:44 AM ET, Mon August 27, 2018

Washington (CNN) White House aides drafted a fulsome statement for President Donald Trump on the death of Sen. John McCain, but it was never sent out, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.

Several staff members believed the official White House statement, which went through an internal approval process, would be released at the time of the Arizona Republican's death, which occurred on Saturday. But as the President spent Sunday at his Virginia golf course, the statement never went out, the source said.

White House aides did not make plans for a televised statement on McCain's passing, which would have been routine under similar circumstances in other recent presidencies.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Trump went against the advice of senior aides to issue an official White House statement praising McCain for his heroism and decades of service, telling aides he instead wanted to post a brief tweet.

Trump's tweet Saturday night did not mention his military or Senate service or include any praise for the late Arizona Republican.

Another source familiar with the matter also confirmed to CNN that there had been plans to go further than just the Twitter post released by the President.

The Post, which cited current and former White House aides who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, said White House chief of staff John Kelly, press secretary Sarah Sanders and other staff urged the release of an official statement calling McCain a "hero" and praising him for his extensive service to the country.

Trump and McCain had a tense relationship, and McCain was one of the administration's most outspoken Republican critics.

After Trump's joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, in which Trump did not endorse US intelligence findings on Russian election meddling over Putin's denial, McCain said: "The damage inflicted by President Trump's naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake."

As a presidential candidate, Trump -- who did not serve in the military himself and avoided the draft through a series of deferments -- attacked McCain's record of service and said the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war is "not a war hero" because he was captured.

"I like people that weren't captured," Trump said. Trump later acknowledged that McCain was a hero, but refused to apologize in subsequent interviews.

In May, CNN reported McCain did not want Trump at his funeral.

Following McCain's death, other members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, joined political leaders in the United States and around the world in heaping accolades on the senator -- contrasting with the White House's response. In statements on Twitter, first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence thanked and honored McCain's service and offered condolences.

And Trump's re-election campaign also released a statement offering condolences and urging Americans to remember McCain and his family -- words that did not explicitly praise the senator.

Tributes to McCain continued to pour in from former US presidents, members of Congress and foreign leaders while Trump golfed on Sunday. His Twitter feed was largely silent except for retweets of his own posts criticizing the investigation into Russian election interference and boasting about the growing economy.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/26/polit...eet/index.html

Read John McCain’s statement on Trump’s meeting with Putin

July 16, 2018

Below is a statement issued by Senator John McCain on President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin:

Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

“President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.

“It is tempting to describe the press conference as a pathetic rout – as an illustration of the perils of under-preparation and inexperience. But these were not the errant tweets of a novice politician. These were the deliberate choices of a president who seems determined to realize his delusions of a warm relationship with Putin’s regime without any regard for the true nature of his rule, his violent disregard for the sovereignty of his neighbors, his complicity in the slaughter of the Syrian people, his violation of international treaties, and his assault on democratic institutions throughout the world.

“Coming close on the heels of President Trump’s bombastic and erratic conduct towards our closest friends and allies in Brussels and Britain, today’s press conference marks a recent low point in the history of the American Presidency. That the president was attended in Helsinki by a team of competent and patriotic advisors makes his blunders and capitulations all the more painful and inexplicable.

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary; but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are—a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. American presidents must be the champions of that cause if it is to succeed. Americans are waiting and hoping for President Trump to embrace that sacred responsibility. One can only hope they are not waiting totally in vain.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/pol...bNM/story.html

Jeff Flake acting all weepy over the death of John McCain, said it's "hard to imagine the Senate without John McCain, it's hard to imagine politics without John McCain."

Good-bye McCain.

Many of US can "imagine" the Senate and politics without John McCain. Many of US are looking forward to it. We're looking forward to a Senate and a Country that supports our President when he is working on new and better relationships with countries like Russia and many others.

God bless Donald J Trump. A "simple tweet" was perfectly appropriate.

A bitter angry old man.

We need term limits.