Ana Navarro: ‘White House is irritated John McCain is not dying of cancer’

CNN commentator and GOP strategist Ana Navarro lashed out at the White House on Tuesday, saying officials are upset that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is “living with cancer” rather than dying from it.

“I think, frankly, what’s happening here is that the White House is irritated that John McCain is not dying of cancer — he’s living with cancer,” Navarro, a staunch critic of President Trump, said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“And he is choosing to make every single day on this Earth something that’s meaningful and counts, and he is still confronting Donald Trump for his outrages.”

"I think, frankly, what's happening here is the White House is irritated John McCain is not dying of cancer," says @AnaNavarro. "He's living with cancer." https://t.co/xwhWRTmvdt pic.twitter.com/Bvp031XDLo

— New Day (@NewDay) May 15, 2018

{mosads}

Navarro’s comments came days after The Hill first reported that a White House aide, special assistant Kelly Sadler, mocked McCain’s diagnosis of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said during a meeting after McCain came out against Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, according to a source familiar with her remarks.

The reported comment has sparked outrage in Washington, with many lawmakers and media personalities demanding that the White House issue a public apology. Some have even suggested that Sadler be fired. 

A White House spokesman said Monday that the matter has been “dealt with internally.” Trump, meanwhile, has criticized leakers in the wake of the report.

The White House has pressed hard for the Senate to confirm Haspel, a longtime veteran of the CIA who currently serves as the agency’s acting director.

Her nomination has drawn scrutiny from some lawmakers — mostly Democrats — because of her ties to a brutal CIA detention and interrogation program used in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. McCain joined the list of senators opposed to Haspel’s nomination last week.