John McCain's youngest daughter Bridget has made a rare public statement in defense of her late father and slammed President Donald Trump in the process, calling him a 'child' and saying he wasn't invited to senator's funeral because 'you could not be counted on to be courteous.'
Bridget McCain, 27, offered her thoughts on the president's attacks on her father via her Twitter account, which her sister Meghan McCain then read Thursday morning on ABC's 'The View.'
'My little sister Bridget for the first time ever has decided that she wants to speak out,' Meghan McCain announced before sharing her younger sibling's reaction.
Meghan McCain read her sister Bridget McCain's defense of their late father during 'The View' on Thursday
John McCain with daughters Bridget and Meghan and wife Cindy on Election Night 2010 in Phoenix
'Mr. Trump, everyone doesn't have to agree with my dad or like him, but I do ask that you be decent and respectful. If you can't do those two things, be mindful. We only said good-bye to him almost seven months ago. Even if you were invited to my dad's funeral, you would have only wanted to be there for credit and not for the condolences. Unfortunately, you could not be counted on to be courteous as you are a child in the most important role the world knows,' McCain read.
Trump complained during a visit to a manufacturing plant in Ohio on Wednesday that he didn't get thanked for giving McCain 'the kind of funeral that he wanted.'
'I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this, I didn't get a thank-you. That's okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain,' Trump said.
The president was criticized after McCain's death for not keeping the flag flying at the White House at half-staff. It was eventually lowered and stayed that way until McCain was buried.
He was not invited to the funeral at the late senator's request. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush gave the eulogies. A slew of political VIPs - Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney and others - were in attendance.
It was notable that Bridget McCain has broken her long public silence and weighed in on the matter. The youngest McCain child has stayed out of the national spotlight and rarely appeared with her father in his public life.
She did read a bible verse at her father's memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church this past August.
But she has otherwise stayed out of the public arena.
'It's very brave of her. She's young and she does not speak publicly,' Meghan McCain said on 'The View.'
She also noted her younger sister is 'very, very private.'
'Anyone who knows anything about political history could probably surmise why she's chosen to lead a very private life but she felt inclined to say and tweet this,' Meghan McCain said.
It was a rare public statement from Bridget McCain in defense of her father
During the 2000 Republican presidential primary, rumors were spread in South Carolina - before its decisive primary election - that Bridget was the illegitimate child of John McCain.
The McCains had actually adopted her as a baby from an orphanage in Bangladesh, when Cindy McCain was visiting the impoverished nation on a humanitarian visit and spotted Bridget.
During the 2000 primary, which George W. Bush eventually won, voters in South Carolina described receiving polling phone calls that asked them: 'Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?' in what was a reference to Bridget.
It's been Meghan McCain who has led the defense of her father from Trump's attacks. Her two brothers, Jack and Jimmy, serve in the military and McCain's children from his previous marriage have been quiet thus far.
'I don't like coming here every day and having to do this. It's extremely emotionally exhausting,' Meghan McCain admitted on 'The View' Thursday.
'I want to thank the American public for the decency and compassion they have given for us,' she added.
President Trump has spent the past week attacking the late senator, with whom he had a bitter relationship when McCain was alive.
Bridget McCain read a bible verse at her father's August memorial service
President Donald Trump complained during a visit to a manufacturing plant in Ohio on Wednesday that he didn't get thanked for giving McCain 'the kind of funeral that he wanted'
The president also suggested on Wednesday that the Vietnam war hero should have come to him after he was first handed a copy of the infamous Golden Showers dossier, an unverified document that claims the Russians have black mail material on Trump.
'John McCain received the fake and phony dossier. Did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton, right?' Trump
