Senate Republicans are unhappy with the White House for refusing to apologize for communications aide Kelly Sadler’s “joke” that Sen. John McCain’s opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel “didn’t matter” because he’s “dying anyway.” The frustration isn’t limited to McCain’s good friend Lindsey Graham, either:
“Just out of common decency they should apologize. And the person who said it should apologize. It’s wrong,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). [...]
“Everything happens for a reason. And sometimes the reason is you’re stupid and made a bad decision,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “She ought to apologize publicly. If it were my administration, and it’s not, I would also apologize on behalf of the administration.”
Donald Trump is having lunch with Republican senators on Tuesday, so the big question is whether anyone will challenge him on the issue:
“He’s a war hero and he should be treated as such. I would hope that they would treat him as he deserves to be treated,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “I hope that we have a discussion about it” in the lunch with Trump.
Pro tip: if you, as a Republican senator, hope that you have a discussion about something in the Senate Republican caucus lunch with Trump, you are the one who can make that happen. Unless you’re too weak to try. Since the White House’s official position, as expressed by principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah on Monday, is that Sadler already apologized to the McCain family privately and “this is an internal matter, it's being addressed internally” (although not by firing or reprimanding Sadler or forcing her to apologize publicly) and there’s nothing further to add, it’s real unlikely that the issue will come up if the senators leave it to Trump.
So that’s the question: Republicans are willing to complain to reporters. But are they brave enough to tell Trump how they feel?