"The View" co-host Meghan McCain said Thursday that she hoped her pointed words during her father's funeral directed at President Trump made attendees Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump "uncomfortable." On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," McCain said, "I really want it made very clear that the Trumps had beef with me then and in the words of Cardi B, they're going to have beef with me forever, and I'm not going to forget."
McCain's comments came just days after The New York Times reported Mr. Trump talked about about her father, Sen. John McCain, during an off-the-record meeting with television anchors before the president's State of the Union address. Mr. Trump reportedly said of John McCain, "By the way, he wrote a book and the book bombed."
John McCain died in August after battling brain cancer. In the last years of his life, he became a frequent target of Mr. Trump, who said in 2015 that McCain "isn't a war hero." In July 2017, McCain broke with Republicans to cast the deciding vote against the repeal of Obamacare, a vote Mr. Trump frequently mocks even months after McCain's death.
At his funeral, which the president did not attend, Meghan McCain did not mention Mr. Trump by name but said, "We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not the cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly."
"I did say that," McCain told Colbert. "And I mean it."
McCain said that when she was working on the eulogy before her father's death, she did not know Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump would be attending the funeral. "A funeral is obviously a sacred time, and I thought that my family had made it clear, or at least I had, that the Trumps were unwelcome around me," she said.
She said it was a "strange element of my life" that they attended, and she "was surprised that they were there and it made me uncomfortable and I hope I made them uncomfortable with everything."
McCain said her father had designed the funeral to be a "bridging" and a "healing" for Americans, and she pointed out that both candidates who beat him for president spoke.
McCain admitted she is a "strange person" among Republicans, though she still votes locally for Republicans. But she said she is "very curious" to see if former Vice President Joe Biden, a close friend of her father's, decides to run for president. "I love him on a personal level," she said.
"On a personal level, the juxtaposition between my experience with cancer with the Trumps and my experience with the Bidens has been the yin to the yang," she said. Biden "was incredibly there for me and my family, his son Beau died of the same cancer that my father had, glioblastoma, so we have this really strange and intense bond. And I love him dearly. If he becomes the nominee, I am going to have to quit television because I can't say anything bad about him."
Caroline Linton
Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.
Meghan McCain tells Stephen Colbert: "I'm not going to forget" Trump's comments about her father
By Caroline Linton
/ CBS News
"The View" co-host Meghan McCain said Thursday that she hoped her pointed words during her father's funeral directed at President Trump made attendees Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump "uncomfortable." On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," McCain said, "I really want it made very clear that the Trumps had beef with me then and in the words of Cardi B, they're going to have beef with me forever, and I'm not going to forget."
McCain's comments came just days after The New York Times reported Mr. Trump talked about about her father, Sen. John McCain, during an off-the-record meeting with television anchors before the president's State of the Union address. Mr. Trump reportedly said of John McCain, "By the way, he wrote a book and the book bombed."
John McCain died in August after battling brain cancer. In the last years of his life, he became a frequent target of Mr. Trump, who said in 2015 that McCain "isn't a war hero." In July 2017, McCain broke with Republicans to cast the deciding vote against the repeal of Obamacare, a vote Mr. Trump frequently mocks even months after McCain's death.
At his funeral, which the president did not attend, Meghan McCain did not mention Mr. Trump by name but said, "We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not the cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly."
"I did say that," McCain told Colbert. "And I mean it."
McCain said that when she was working on the eulogy before her father's death, she did not know Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump would be attending the funeral. "A funeral is obviously a sacred time, and I thought that my family had made it clear, or at least I had, that the Trumps were unwelcome around me," she said.
She said it was a "strange element of my life" that they attended, and she "was surprised that they were there and it made me uncomfortable and I hope I made them uncomfortable with everything."
McCain said her father had designed the funeral to be a "bridging" and a "healing" for Americans, and she pointed out that both candidates who beat him for president spoke.
McCain admitted she is a "strange person" among Republicans, though she still votes locally for Republicans. But she said she is "very curious" to see if former Vice President Joe Biden, a close friend of her father's, decides to run for president. "I love him on a personal level," she said.
"On a personal level, the juxtaposition between my experience with cancer with the Trumps and my experience with the Bidens has been the yin to the yang," she said. Biden "was incredibly there for me and my family, his son Beau died of the same cancer that my father had, glioblastoma, so we have this really strange and intense bond. And I love him dearly. If he becomes the nominee, I am going to have to quit television because I can't say anything bad about him."
In:- Jared Kushner
- Joe Biden
- Ivanka Trump
- Stephen Colbert
- Meghan McCain
- John McCain
Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.
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