--- title: John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out Against Trump description: Sen. John McCain's youngest daughter, Bridget McCain, broke her silence to defend her late father by tweeting at President Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5556080/bridget-mccain-speaks-out/ author: Rachel E. Greenspan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-21T17:40:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:25:55.238Z og:title: John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out for the First Time About Trump's Attack on Her Father og:description: President Trump has continued his attacks on the late senator this week og:url: https://time.com/5556080/bridget-mccain-speaks-out/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a2834068f8c708c/6989470cb21a9c96d25004db/bridget-mccain-trump-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out for the First Time About Trump's Attack on Her Father og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out for the First Time About Trump's Attack on Her Father twitter:description: President Trump has continued his attacks on the late senator this week twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a2834068f8c708c/6989470cb21a9c96d25004db/bridget-mccain-trump-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out for the First Time About Trump's Attacks on Her Father > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1e98263c-ba56-4710-b7b7-6877f6ec4475&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Complains McCain Family Never Thanked Him for Granting John McCain's Funeral Honors [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Complains McCain Family Never Thanked Him for Granting John McCain's Funeral Honors](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lbp6BakW.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2019-03-20. President Donald Trump continued his streak of attacks on the late Sen. John McCain during a visit to an Ohio tank factory Wednesday._ by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Mar 21, 2019 5:40 PM UTC President Donald Trump continued his streak of attacks on the late Sen. John McCain during a visit to an Ohio tank factory Wednesday. by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Mar 21, 2019 5:40 PM UTC Bridget McCain, the late Sen. Jon McCain’s youngest child, has publicly spoken out against President Donald Trump’s repeated [attacks](http://time.com/5555353/donald-trump-john-mccain-funeral/) on her father for the first time. The 27-year-old has typically kept herself out of the public eye, both before and after her father died last August, but she tweeted two messages Thursday in which she tagged the President. “Everyone doesn’t have to agree with my dad or like him, but I do ask you to be decent and respectful,” she wrote. Reminding the President that he was not invited to McCain’s funeral, she said, “Unfortunately, you could not be counted on to be courteous, as you are a child in the most important role the world knows.” > [](https://twitter.com/bridgieleela/status/1108610148560310272) > [](https://twitter.com/bridgieleela/status/1108610598445604865) It was a big moment for Bridget, her sister Meghan said on ABC’s _The View_ Thursday. “Anyone who knows anything about political history can probably surmise why she’s chosen to lead a very private life,” she said of Bridget, who was adopted from Bangladesh by John and Cindy McCain. “But she felt inclined to say and tweet this.” McCain read her sister’s tweets aloud. It was the second day in a row that Meghan McCain, a co-host on the show, stood up for her late father on the air. “I don’t like coming here every day and having to do this, as all of you know,” she said during Thursday’s episode. “It’s extremely emotionally exhausting.”  Bridget McCain and Meghan McCain, daughters of, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., watch as Cindy McCain lays a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during a funeral procession to carry the casket of her husband from the U.S. Capitol to National Cathedral for a Memorial Service on September 1, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Pool—Getty Images The comments from McCain’s daughters, two of the senator’s seven children, come after multiple days of attacks by Trump. [Over the weekend](http://time.com/5553245/trump-mccain-steele-dossier-tweets/), the President called the late senator “last in his class” McCain. (He was actually fifth from the bottom, something that he liked to [jokingly boast](https://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/John-McCain-maverick-of-the-Senate-and-former-POW-dies-at-81%5F171216689) about later in life.) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1107260609974943745) On Tuesday, the President [told reporters in the Oval Office](http://time.com/5554409/trump-escalates-attack-john-mccain/), “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be.” The attacks continued Wednesday when the President visited an Ohio tank factory and criticized the McCain family’s reaction to [the senator’s funeral](http://time.com/5555353/donald-trump-john-mccain-funeral/). “I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president, I had to approve,” he said. “I didn’t get a thank you, but that’s OK.” The President also claimed on Wednesday that McCain “didn’t get the job done” in his advocacy for war veterans. [Fact-checkers disputed](http://time.com/5555571/donald-trump-john-mccain-veterans/) Trump’s assertion about McCain’s record on veterans. Meghan McCain, who also regularly defended her father on social media and on TV while he was alive, said she has been comforted by the support she’s received amid the criticism from Trump. “I don’t expect decency and compassion from the Trump family,” McCain said. “I do want to thank the public for the decency and compassion they’re giving us.” McCain also encouraged viewers to “take this awful moment and do something positive” by donating to organizations that support veterans. > [](https://twitter.com/TheView/status/1108749695801647106) ## Transcript [00:00] A lot of people are asking because they love me and they [00:03] ask me about a man named John McCain. And if you want [00:07] that to tell you about, should I or not? Yes? Yes. So [00:11] I have to be honest, I've never liked [00:15] him much. Hasn't been for me. I've really [00:21] Probably never will, but there are certain reasons for it and [00:24] I'll tell you, and I do this to save a little time with the press [00:28] later on. John McCain received the [00:33] fake and phony dossier, did you hear about the dossier? [00:37] It was paid for by Crooked Hilary Clinton, right? [00:43] And John McCain got it, he got it. And what did he do? He [00:47] didn't call me. He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put [00:51] me in jeopardy, and that's not the nicest thing to do. You [00:55] know when those people say, cuz I'm a very loyal person. I [00:58] endorsed him at his request And I gave him the kind of [01:02] funeral that he wanted, which as President I had to [01:05] approve. I don't care about this, I didn't get thank you, that's [01:10] okay. We sent him on the way, but I wasn't a fan of John [01:13] McCain. So now what we could say is now we're all set. [01:18] I don't think I have to answer that question, but the press [01:20] keeps, what do you think of McCain? What do you think? [01:23] Not my kind of guy, but some people like him and I think [01:26] that's great. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5556080/bridget-mccain-speaks-out/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5556080/bridget-mccain-speaks-out/"},"headline":"John McCain's Daughter Bridget Speaks Out for the First Time About Trump's Attacks on Her Father","datePublished":"2019-03-21T17:40:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:25:55.238Z","description":"President Trump has continued his attacks on the late senator this week","url":"https://time.com/5556080/bridget-mccain-speaks-out/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a2834068f8c708c/6989470cb21a9c96d25004db/bridget-mccain-trump-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel E. 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