'I’ve done everything that they requested': Trump defends his handling of McCain's death
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President Donald Trump ordered White House flags to be lowered back to half-staff for the late Senator John McCain after facing a growing public outcry.
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In a wide-ranging interview Thursday, President Donald Trump defended his controversial handling of Sen. John McCain’s death.Â
Trump, speaking with Bloomberg News on the day McCain’s life was honored at a memorial service in Phoenix, said he believed he had “done everything” he could for the Arizona Republican.
Trump was heavily criticized earlier this week for a number of decisions and remarks surrounding McCain’s death, most notably his handling of the raising of the White House flags that had been set at half staff to honor the late senator. After raising the flags only two days after McCain died, the flags were lowered again after public outcry.
Additionally, over the weekend, Trump only offered a brief and impersonal statement on McCain’s passing on Twitter and reportedly had to be pressured to make additional remarks.
When asked whether the president missed a chance to unite a mourning country, Trump defended himself.Â
“No, I don’t think I did at all,” he told Bloomberg. “I’ve done everything that they requested and no, I don’t think I have at all.”
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Sen. John McCain’s family, from left, Jimmy McCain, Meghan McCain, Jack McCain, Cindy McCain, Bridget McCain and Sidney McCain, stand together before a memorial service at the North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix, Aug. 30, 2018.
In this image from Senate Television, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pauses as he speaks on the Senate floor at the Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, next to the desk of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., draped in black with a bowl of white roses sitting on it. McCain died on Aug. 25, after battling brain cancer. Graham was McCain’s best friend in the Senate.
People are reflected as they look at the front page of the Arizona Republic featuring a picture of late Sen. John McCain at the Newseum in Washington, DC, on Aug. 27, 2018. He was a hero, a statesman who cut a towering figure in Washington. But for many in the increasingly angry world of American politics, John McCain will be missed for a far humbler virtue,simple civility. As Americans and others paid tribute to the late Republican senator, who died August 25, 2018 of cancer aged 81, some cited a 2008 interaction with a voter as symbolizing his famous insistence on fair and civil discourse.
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More: White House flags return to half-staff to honor Sen. John McCain after outcry
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Still, he acknowledged his rocky relationship with the respected senator, which included McCain criticizing Trump’s rhetoric during the 2016 presidential campaign and came to a climax when McCain voted down the Trump administration’s attempt at repealing Obamacare.Â
“We had our disagreements and they were very strong disagreements,” the president said. “I disagreed with many of the things that I assume he believed in.”
Their quarrels continued even after McCain revealed he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer last year.
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After a memorial service in Arizona on Thursday, the late senator arrives in Washington D.C. where his life will be honored in the nation’s capital.
USA TODAY
Asked by Bloomberg whether McCain would have made a better president than Barack Obama, who McCain lost to in 2008, the president wouldn’t say.Â
“I don’t want to comment on it,” he said. “I have a very strong opinion, all right.”
Bloomberg noted White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was staring at Trump during his response.Â
He joked Sanders was “having a nervous breakdown” over the exchange.
During the president’s interview with Bloomberg, he spoke about a variety of subjects, including tariffs, China and trade. He also threatened to upend the rules of global trade, saying he would pull out of the World Trade Organization unless it adopts rules more favorable to the United States.
