Melania Trump Rips John McCain, ‘What He Has Done For Veterans Has Been Shameful,’ In Oral History Project
Former first lady Melania Trump was not a big fan of the late Republican Sen. John McCain according to a new oral history project on Trump’s takeover of the GOP.
Melania agreed with then-candidate Trump when he said during the 2016 GOP primary that the Arizona senator was “not a war hero,” according to Trump’s former campaign manager and adviser Cory Lewandowski before ripping McCain over the treatment of veterans.
Lewandowski took part in the oral history project. He and Trump met up with Melania Trump in New Jersey as the entire GOP establishment and all the talking heads in the media were demanding Trump apologize to McCain.
“As we walked in the door, Mrs. Trump was waiting for us,” Lewandowski said. “She said: ‘You’re right. John McCain isn’t a war hero. What he has done for the veterans has been shameful.’”
From Business Insider:
Michael Cohen, who worked during the 2016 campaign as Trump’s personal attorney, acknowledged to Insider as part of the oral history project that Melania Trump wasn’t shy about sharing her thoughts to her husband.
“Melania played a very limited role during the campaign not believing Donald would actually win,” Cohen said. “However, when directly asked for her opinion on a matter by Donald, she offered it readily.”
A spokesperson for Melania Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump attacked McCain in July 2015 during the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, in the first of several moments when it looked like Trump’s campaign was over before it had even really begun. McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump told the moderator Frank Luntz. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Melania Trump after Trump McCain comment in 2015? She agreed, "McCain isn't a war hero" — latest from our @thisisinsider 2016 oral history of Trump and the GOP: https://t.co/CC1h1GjoCC
— Tom LoBianco (@tomlobianco) July 21, 2021
"As we walked in the door, Mrs. Trump was waiting for us," @CLewandowski_ told Insider. "She said: 'You're right. John McCain isn't a war hero. What he has done for the veterans has been shameful.'"
— Tom LoBianco (@tomlobianco) July 21, 2021
That and much much more packed into our 2016 oral history of how Trump took control of the Republican Party — from @ngaudiano @adamwren @dsamuelsohn @WARojas and present company. Available here. Recommend the subscription for this, it's dishy https://t.co/GKfEHV0WwZ
— Tom LoBianco (@tomlobianco) July 21, 2021