Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Tuesday acknowledged that a White House staffer's dig at Sen. John McCain's health was "stupid," but he is also concerned that the information was leaked from a private meeting and that the scandal "is a lot to do about nothing."
"If the statement was made, it was stupid and it was abhorrent, and I think none of us would approve of it," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox & Friends," and he thinks there is something a "little weird " about it.
"It is a lot to do about nothing," Gingrich said. "There is something a little weird that there is a huge scandal about something that was said in totally private meeting, but you can have a so-called comedian say vicious, ugly, nasty things about White House personnel at the White House Correspondents Dinner, in public on television, I didn't hear anybody apologizing."
The White House communications aide, Kelly Sadler, joked "he's dying anyway" during a meeting last week while discussing McCain's reluctance to back Gina Haspel, the president's nominee to head the CIA. She has apologized by phone to McCain's daughter, Meghan, but not publicly.
"What matters is, the economy is growing, conservative judges are being approved, North Korea is negotiating, the Iranians are being corralled," said Gingrich. "These are big things that will change history. And that is the kind of typical Washington story by liberals who frankly don't want to talk about the next 100,000 jobs. Don't want to talk about what is happening in the country."
Gingrich also discussed his upcoming book, "Trump's America: The Truth about Our Nation's Great Comeback," which will hit the shelves in June.
The former speaker Tuesday drew parallels between Trump and late President Ronald Reagan, explaining that like Reagan, Trump believes in operating from a position of strength and in providing firm leadership.
"Reagan wanted to defeat the Soviet Empire and liberate Eastern Europe and work with Pope John Paul II and with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to achieve that goal," said Gingrich. "President Trump came in, you know, the thing that is remarkable about Trump, he is very consistent in his strategic goals."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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