--- title: Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death description: President Trump, who attacked Sen. John McCain multiple times, tweeted "deepest sympathies and respect" after the senator's death. canonical: https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/ author: Michael Zennie article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-26T01:09:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T17:58:27.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death og:description: Trump has repeatedly attacked McCain og:url: https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70e59468263caef8/698938b5096a9461d36a3470/trump-bad-week.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Trump-bad-week og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death twitter:description: Trump has repeatedly attacked McCain twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70e59468263caef8/698938b5096a9461d36a3470/trump-bad-week.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death  by [Michael Zennie](https://time.com/author/michael-zennie/)  ## Michael Zennie Updated: Dec 12, 2023 5:58 PM UTCPublished: Aug 26, 2018 1:09 AM UTC  President Trump speaks during the 2018 Ohio Republican Party State Dinner, in Columbus, Ohio on Aug. 24, 2018. President Trump speaks during the 2018 Ohio Republican Party State Dinner, in Columbus, Ohio on Aug. 24, 2018.John Minchillo/AP/REX/Shutterstock  by [Michael Zennie](https://time.com/author/michael-zennie/)  ## Michael Zennie Updated: Dec 12, 2023 5:58 PM UTCPublished: Aug 26, 2018 1:09 AM UTC President Donald Trump tweeted “deepest sympathies and respect” for the family of John McCain shortly after the [senator died Saturday](http://www.time.com/5179302/john-mccain-dies/) after a battle with brain cancer. “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” he tweeted. Trump’s reelection campaign later released a statement that read: “All of us at the Trump Campaign offer our sincere condolences to the family of Senator John McCain following his passing this evening. We encourage all Americans to take the opportunity to remember Senator McCain and his family in their prayers on this sad occasion.” When asked for an official statement on McCain’s death, the White House referred to Trump’s tweet. Trump frequently attacked McCain and [his thumbs-down vote against](http://time.com/5173162/donald-trump-cpac-john-mccain-obamacare-repeal/) an Obamacare repeal – even if he stopped referring to McCain by name in recent months. Earlier this month, [Trump declined to mention McCain](http://time.com/5365956/trump-john-mccain-defense-bill/) as he signed the military funding bill that carried the Arizona Republican’s name. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1033515425336885248) Trump’s attacks on McCain led the senator’s daughter [Meghan McCain to say](http://time.com/5327550/meghan-mccain-donald-trump-attacks-john-mccain/), “his comments are never going to be OK with me, especially at this moment in my life. I’m never going to forgive it.” Trump was also roundly criticized in 2015 when he said that McCain, who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war after being shot down in North Vietnam, was not a hero because he was captured. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/"},"headline":"President Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death","datePublished":"2018-08-26T01:09:27.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T17:58:27.000Z","description":"Trump repeatedly attacked John McCain when he was alive","url":"https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/","keywords":["John McCain","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70e59468263caef8/698938b5096a9461d36a3470/trump-bad-week.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Zennie","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-zennie/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70e59468263caef8/698938b5096a9461d36a3470/trump-bad-week.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump-bad-week","caption":"President Trump speaking","creditText":"John Minchillo/AP/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/john-mccain/","name":"John McCain"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5378317/donald-trump-john-mccain-tweet/","name":"President Trump Tweets 'Deepest Sympathies' After John McCain's Death"}}]}] ```