The White House communications aide who angered Sen. John McCain’s family by mocking his brain cancer is no longer employed by the administration.
‘Kelly Sadler is no longer employed within the Executive Office of the President,’ White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement Tuesday night.
It was not immediately clear if the comments about McCain were the reason that she was leaving her job doing rapid response for the Trump administration.
It’s also unclear if she left voluntarily or is being dismissed.
Politico reported there could be more heads on the chopping block as President Donald Trump has ordered a wide-ranging housecleaning of his communications team, and additional aides are expected to be fired or reassigned in the coming days.
Aside from the McCain comment, Sadler is said to have angered her boss Mercedes Schlapp by calling her a leaker in front of the president.
The White House communications aide who angered Sen. John McCain’s family by mocking his brain cancer is no longer employed by the government
Senator John McCain’s family was outraged by Kelly Sadler’s remarks
White House press aides declined to offer details on Sadler’s fate.
As late as end-of-day Monday Sadler was still sending out White House emails on immigration to reporters, including DailyMail.com.
She was roundly criticized after reports last month she had told colleagues in an internal meeting that the president shouldn’t worry about McCain’s opposition to CIA director-designate Gina Haspel’s nomination.
‘He’s dying anyway,’ she had said.
McCain has an aggressive form of brain cancer and is receiving treatment for it in his home state of Arizona. He has recently begun planning his funeral.
The White House rallied around communications staffer after the incident was reported, saying it would not validate the leak by commenting on it.
Sadler has not released any public statements since the incident and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has refused to address the issue at her daily briefings.
After the leak occurred Trump held an Oval Office meeting with his communications team, who have been without a director since Hope Hicks left the job in March.
The president told Sadler she wouldn’t be fired, Axios reported at the time. Trump is also a frequent critic of McCain and is still angry the senator was the deciding no vote in an effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
But Trump did demand to know who the leakers were. Sadler stunned the staff by naming her boss, Schlapp.
Schlapp, whose husband Matt is the chairman of the American Conservative Union, defended herself.
The Daily Beast reported she called Sadler ‘a bitch’ in the meeting.
McCain’s daughter, Meghan, said Sadler apologized to her privately and promised to make a public apology. However, Sadler never did speak out on the subject.
Meghan was one of the loudest critics after Sadler’s comments were reported.
‘Nobody’s going to remember you’, she said on ‘The View.’
The senator’s wife Cindy hammered Sadler on Twitter, writing last month: ‘May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.’
Former Vice President Joe Biden condemned Sadler’s comments at the time.
‘People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday,’ Biden said.
‘John McCain is a genuine hero – a man of valor whose sacrifices for his country are immeasurable. As he fights for his life, he deserves better – so much better,’ he continued. ‘Given this White House’s trail of disrespect toward John and others, this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it.’
Sadler’s comments came after McCain released a public statement on his official website denouncing Trump’s decision to nominate Gina Haspel for CIA director.
McCain urged the Senate to reject Haspel for the position, based on her role in the enhanced interrogation program during the Bush Administration.
Haspel was ultimately confirmed and became the CIA’s first female director.
Sadler, a mother of three, is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times. She’s married to Frank Sadler, who previously served as 2016 presidential campaign manager for Carly Fiorina – another outspoken Trump critic.
Additionally, she failed to blind-copy recipients in a May 22 email blast highlighting the administration’s new Iran strategy, Politico reported last month.
The email list included Trump critics and former Obama administration officials, some of whom expressed their confusion on why they were on the list.