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By Kelly Wynne
Culture Writer
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President Donald Trump will not speak of Senator John McCain, despite the veteran senator's fight with brain cancer, White House officials told the Washington Post on Saturday.
Though other politicians were vocal in their support and well wishes for McCain and family, Trump remained silent, and plans to continue to do so, the officials said.
Trump and McCain have a tumultuous relationship. Trump has often hit out at McCain during the course of his cancer treatment, and McCain has often criticized Trump. Trump will not be invited to McCain's funeral, according to reports earlier this year. Vice President Mike Pence will be invited in his place.
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McCain once supported Trump's campaign in 2016, but withdrew his endorsement after a video emerged in which Trump boasted of sexually abusing women.
Trump responded to McCain's disendorsement saying, "The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!"
On August 13, Trump signed a bill into legislation named after McCain. Throughout his 25-minute address on the topic, Trump did not say McCain's name, according to the Washington Post.
Trump had previously attacked McCain's status as a war hero. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five years and was subjected to torture methods. Trump stated McCain is "not a war hero in July 2015.
"He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured," Trump said during an Iowa campaign speech. He has not apologized for the comment. He supported the comment in a July 2015 USA Today op-ed.
"The reality is that John McCain the politician has made America less safe, sent our brave soldiers into wrongheaded foreign adventures, covered up for President Obama with the VA scandal and has spent most of his time in the Senate pushing amnesty," he wrote. "He would rather protect the Iraqi border than Arizona's."
Trump and McCain's relationship further soured when McCain voted twice against Trump's attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In February, Trump mentioned McCain's opposing vote at a rally. "What happened? What was that all about? Who was that? I don't know, I don't know, I don't want to be controversial so I won't use his name," he said. "What a mess."
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