White House Comms Cancels Large Morning Meeting After McCain Leak

In response to a leak that revealed a White House staff member joked about Sen. John McCain “dying anyway,” the communications office has “canceled a large daily morning meeting,” according to The New York Times. The meeting, which would normally include about 30 staff members, did not take place on Thursday or the two days prior. Instead, a “smaller group of communications team members” met, a source told the newspaper. “Periodically, we streamline our operations to better communicate the president’s message," White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters told The Hill in an email. The change comes after reports emerged that communications aide Kelly Sadler dismissed McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel becoming CIA director because “he’s dying anyway.” While Sadler and the White House have not publicly apologized for the comment, the White House claims that Sadler personally apologized to the family and says the matter was “handled internally.”