Meghan McCain would like 1 senator to ‘chill’ over her father’s health, plans
May 8, 2018, 10:27 AM | Updated: May 9, 2018, 11:49 am
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While Meghan McCain can appreciate the interest in her father’s ongoing fight against cancer, she doesn’t appreciate rumors and speculation about his health.
“I’d like everybody to take a collective breath and chill out on my dad for a second, especially Orrin Hatch,” Meghan McCain said about her dad, Sen. John McCain, during Tuesday’s “The View.”
“We’re all doing good and hanging in.”
Sen. Hatch (R-Utah), a longtime friend of John McCain, said Monday he’d been told the Arizona Republican wouldn’t be returning to work. Hatch also questioned McCain’s reported wish that Vice President Mike Pence attend his funeral rather than President Donald Trump.
Hatch apologized after hearing Meghan McCain’s televised comments.
“I agree with the daughter,” Hatch told The Washington Post. “I shouldn’t have said anything yesterday. I agree a hundred percent with her.”
The newspaper also reported that Hatch sent a letter of apology.
McCain wrote in his forthcoming memoir that this was his last term in office, but he never said he was retiring.
“He’s making jokes … talking, standing,” Meghan McCain said.
.@MeghanMcCain shares an update on her father Sen. John McCain as he fights brain cancer — saying he's having a "great recovery" and "making jokes: "I'd like everybody to take a collective breath and chill out on my dad for a second…" https://t.co/Vhegu08m1B pic.twitter.com/icc9pseeV8
— The View (@TheView) May 8, 2018
Family members have repeatedly said the 81-year-old former Navy pilot was doing well, recovering at their ranch near Sedona from treatment for brain cancer and abdominal surgery.
In an excerpt from “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations” that he recorded for public radio, McCain said, “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here. Maybe I’ll have another five years.
“Maybe I’ll be gone before you hear this. My predicament is, well, rather unpredictable.”
Hatch initially told Politico that McCain’s wish that Trump not attend his funeral was “ridiculous” and that McCain should change his mind.
A spokesman for Hatch later told the website the lawmaker “spoke out of turn about Sen. McCain’s status.”
Hatch, 84, will be stepping down from the Senate at the end of the year after four decades.