Bridget McCain, the youngest daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, spoke out publicly for the first time against President Donald Trump’s recent flurry of attacks on her father.
“Everyone doesn’t have to agree with my dad or like him, but I do ask you to be decent and respectful,” she tweeted Thursday, adding that her father had died less than seven months ago.
The 27-year-old, in her tweets, confirmed Trump wasn’t invited to McCain’s funeral in August, as was widely rumored at the time.
“Even if you were invited to my dad’s funeral, you would have only wanted to be there for the credit and not for any condolences,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, you could not be counted on to be courteous, as you are a child in the most important role the world knows.”
Meghan McCain, a co-host on ABC’s “The View” and one of the Arizona lawmaker’s daughters, noted Thursday that it was exceedingly rare for her little sister to make a public statement.
“I’m not the only child in my family ― I have six brothers and sisters,” Meghan McCain said during Thursday’s episode of “The View.” “My little sister Bridget, for the first time ever, has decided that she wants to speak out. She’s very, very private. ... I think it’s very brave of her.”
Trump, who often sparred with John McCain over the years, reignited his attacks on the decorated Navy war veteran in recent weeks. During a speech at a tank factory in Ohio on Wednesday, Trump lamented that no one had ever thanked him for approving McCain’s state funeral arrangements.
“I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted,” he told the crowd. “I didn’t get ‘thank you.’ That’s OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain. ... Not my kind of guy.”
Trump, over the weekend, sent a series of tweets bashing John McCain for his role in killing a GOP bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, calling out his academic record when he was a student decades ago at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He also falsely accused McCain of “spreading” the infamous Steele dossier, which alleged to contain Russian blackmail material on Trump, to the media ahead of the 2016 election.
Cindy McCain, John McCain’s widow, and her daughter Meghan have taken the lead in defending the senator’s legacy against Trump’s jabs.
“I don’t expect decency and compassion from the Trump family,” Meghan said on “The View” Thursday. “I do want to thank the American public for all the decency and compassion that they have given us.”