Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), on Wednesday sharply rebuked Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a onetime close family friend who she has previously likened to an “uncle.”
Graham’s office declined to comment on McCain’s tweet.
The statement from McCain comes amid a renewed debate over the attendance of former president Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law at John McCain’s 2018 funeral.
In her new book, “Bad Republican,” Meghan McCain calls Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner “funeral crashers.”
But Graham, the late McCain’s close friend turned loyal Trump defender, has argued that “their presence was approved.”
“She was upset they were there — I understand that, and she has hard feelings but I know what happened and nobody showed up uninvited,” Graham told The Washington Post earlier this week. “I love Meghan McCain and I understand how stressful all this has been for her and those who attack her dad will never be forgiven by her.”
The New York Times reported at the time that Graham “had cleared” the couple’s invitation “with the senator’s widow.” A person close to Kushner and Ivanka Trump told The Post this week that the couple was invited by McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, via Graham.
Emails reviewed by The Washington Post indicated the funeral organizers were aware the senior White House aides would be attending the funeral and were in touch with the Secret Service to provide logistical guidance for their arrival.
A spokesperson for Meghan McCain declined to comment.
A person close to Kushner and Ivanka Trump said that Kushner and Ben Domenech, Meghan McCain’s husband, were also in touch before and after the funeral. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. Communications reviewed by The Post corroborate this account.
Former president Donald Trump issued a statement lashing out at Meghan McCain last week, accusing her of being “a bully and basically a lowlife” and taking credit for making it possible for her father to have “the world’s longest funeral.”
It was not clear what Trump meant; the former president was not invited to McCain’s funeral and no evidence has emerged of any role he took in planning it.
Trump has long attacked John McCain, even after his death, deriding the Vietnam War veteran — who was tortured and held captive for years — as “not a war hero.”
Meghan McCain has previously criticized Graham for his dramatic turn from Trump critic to ally — even as she described him as a close family friend that she had long viewed as an “uncle.”
“This is what happens,” McCain said of Graham in 2019, when she was a co-host of ABC’s “The View.” “You have to show up at the rally and you have to kiss the ring and you’ll be great politically in the Republican Party — and it was just a weird thing for me to watch.”
