Bill Clinton added his voice to those supporting John McCain after a White House aide said the Arizona senator’s opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel wasn’t important because he was “dying anyway.”
“If it hadn’t been for John McCain, I don’t think I would have had the ability to effectively end the Vietnam War, reconcile with Vietnam, get a full accounting for all the missing in action, and many other things and they are now our best ally in Southeast Asia,” said Clinton as he entered New York City’s Pierre Hotel on Friday.
“In my lifetime, he’s one of the most remarkable patriots our country’s ever produced,” he added. “I love the guy.”
Before Clinton’s term in office, McCain was a member of the Senate Select Committee that investigated the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, to determine the fate of troops listed as missing in action and helped the U.S. normalize diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
The video was captured by TMZ
Yesterday, The Hill reported that White House aide Kelly Sadler had dismissed McCain’s objections to Haspel on the grounds that he was dying.
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” she said of the senator’s opposition to President Trump’s pick to lead the CIA. McCain is currently fighting brain cancer at his home in Arizona.
Clinton wasn’t the only person to shoot back at Sadler. On set at “The View,” McCain’s daughter Meghan, who serves as a co-host of the show, suggested that Sadler should be out of a job.
“The thing that surprises me most,” she said. “I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in when that would be acceptable and then you can come into work the next day and still have a job. And that’s all I have to say about it.”