White House Aide Who Made Crude Joke About McCain Leaves Job

(Bloomberg) -- A White House aide who made a widely-condemned comment about the failing health of Arizona Senator John McCain has left her job in the Trump administration.

Kelly Sadler, who served as a White House communications aide, “is no longer employed within the Executive Office of the President,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said Tuesday in a statement.

Last month, Sadler reportedly said McCain’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA wouldn’t matter because the senator was dying. McCain, the Republican nominee for president in 2008, has been diagnosed with a form of brain cancer and has been receiving treatment for months at his Arizona ranch.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had refused to apologize for the remark and instead expressed outrage that the comment had leaked from an internal meeting. Trump himself has continued to mock McCain publicly for his vote against a health-care bill last year.

The White House did not say whether Sadler had been fired or left the job voluntarily. CNN reported Sadler’s departure earlier Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John Harney

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