An MSNBC host is taking back her words after suggesting Friday that reporters should “wring” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ neck for allegedly avoiding questions about a White House staffer’s alleged disparaging remarks about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, a former aide to McCain when he ran for president in 2008, asked NBC’s White House reporter Kristen Welker how she manages not to choke Sanders during the daily press briefings.
“How do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck? Why can’t she just say, ‘If a staffer said that, we’re going to get to the bottom of it and she’ll be fired?’” Wallace asked while on-air.
Wallace was referencing a report from the Hill this week that accused White House aide Kelly Sadler of mocking McCain’s health in a closed-door meeting with two dozen White House communications staffers.
When the officials discussed McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel’s nomination to become CIA director, Sadler reportedly told them that McCain’s opinion does not matter because “he’s dying anyway.”
McCain was diagnosed with a brain tumor known as a glioblastoma in July 2017.
Wallace released a statement on Twitter later on Friday apologizing for her “poorly chosen words.”