Eric Thayer/Reuters
Just hours before he was expected to address the nation with calls for bipartisan unity on Tuesday, President Trump reportedly tore into Democrats and dissed the late Sen. John McCain during a private lunch with television anchors. The New York Times reports that Trump once again lamented McCain's decision to vote against a GOP measure to repeal Obamacare in 2017, despite the fact that the Arizona Republican passed away last August. "By the way," he was quoted as saying of McCain's book, “he wrote a book and the book bombed.” Meghan McCain was quick to respond to the reported remarks on Twitter. "The president’s obsession with my father 6 months after his death is pathetic and telling-even at a time when he should be focusing on his message to the American public and the state of our union-the greatness of my father’s life and legacy haunts you," she wrote.
Trump also reportedly called former Vice President Joe Biden “dumb” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a “nasty son of a bitch” during the meeting on Tuesday, in which he is said to have dismissed potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The comments came just hours before his State of the Union address, where the White House has said he will call for unity and bipartisanship.