J. Scott Applewhite/AP, Richard Drew/AP
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and President Donald Trump.
- President Donald Trump reportedly reignited his feud with the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
- During a private luncheon with TV news anchors, Trump reportedly mentioned McCain's infamous vote against the "skinny" plan to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act.
- "By the way ... he wrote a book and the book bombed," Trump also said of McCain.
- The late senator's daughter, Meghan, called Trump's reported remarks "pathetic."
President Donald Trump reignited his feud with the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, according to a New York Times report published on Tuesday.
During a private luncheon with TV news anchors, Trump reportedly mentioned McCain's infamous vote against the "skinny" plan to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act. In 2017, McCain made waves after he joined the 49-51 vote against repealing portions of the ACA with his decisive thumbs-down vote.
And Trump took another jab at the now-deceased senator and Vietnam veteran: "By the way ... he wrote a book and the book bombed."
McCain died on August 25, 2018 after a long battle with brain cancer. Trump was not invited to his funeral.
McCain wrote numerous memoirs spanning his storied career in the US Navy and as a longtime Arizona senator. In his last memoir published in May 2018, the senator warned of "spurious nationalism" and criticizes Trump for downplaying the threat Russia poses to Western democracies, as noted by the US intelligence community.
"I'm not sure what to make of President Trump's convictions," Sen. McCain wrote in "The Restless Wave."
"The appearance of toughness or a reality show facsimile of toughness seems to matter more than any of our values."
Trump's feud with McCain was on full display during the first half of his presidency and the 2016 US presidential campaign, but Trump's insults toward McCain stretch back for decades. During a CBS interview with anchor Dan Rather in 1999, Trump downplayed McCain's military service.
"Does being captured make you a hero," Trump said in the interview, referring to McCain's time as a prisoner-of-war during the Vietnam War. He revived those remarks in 2015.
Cindy McCain, her son James McCain, daughter Meghan McCain, and Bridget McCain look on as the casket of the late Senator John McCain is loaded into a Hearse following his funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.
McCain's daughter, Meghan, called Trump's remarks published by The Times on Tuesday "pathetic."
"The president's obsession with my father 6 months after his death is pathetic and telling," Meghan said on Twitter.
"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."