Meghan McCain dramatically kicked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the curb on Wednesday, publicly declaring that the man she once affectionately referred to as an “uncle” is not a “member of my family” and “hasn’t been for a very long time.”
For years now, Graham has tried to reconcile his close relationship with the late Sen. John McCain and his undying loyalty to disgraced former President Donald Trump, who notoriously attacked McCain and derided the Vietnam POW’s war record—even in death.
While Meghan McCain previously said that she refuses to “talk crap” about Graham, despite his “questionable” actions, this week appeared to be the final straw for the former View host.
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In her new audiobook memoir, titled Bad Republican, McCain revisited her feud with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, calling them “funeral crashers” for showing up at her father’s 2018 ceremony. “As far as I knew, they had not been invited but they showed up anyway,” she wrote of the ex-president’s daughter and son-in-law, colloquially known as “Javanka.”
Graham, however, told the Washington Post that McCain was mistaken and that the couple’s “presence was approved.” Adding that “nobody showed up uninvited,” the South Carolina lawmaker said he understood “how stressful all this has been” for McCain and “those who attack her dad will never be forgiven by her.”
It had also previously been reported that Graham “had cleared” the couple’s funeral invitation with the late senator’s widow, Cindy McCain. A source close to Javanka also told the Post that Cindy invited them via Graham. Funeral organizers were also aware that the couple, both senior White House aides at the time, would attend, according to an email reviewed by the Post.
But in response to the Post’s report, a spokesperson for Meghan McCain said the conservative pundit “stands by the accuracy of her memoir” and that she “was unaware of any invitation to a member of the Trump family to her father’s funeral.”
And with Graham publicly siding with the Trump family, McCain then took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to cut ties with the longtime family friend.
“Lindsey Graham may consider himself a member of my family, but he is not and hasn’t been for a very long time,” she tweeted.
“He certainly doesn’t speak for me or my life experiences. Full stop,” McCain concluded. “The media should stop treating him like he is an expert on anything McCain related.”
Graham did not immediately react to getting the public boot from the McCain family, but Javanka has already responded to the ex-View host’s shots at them.
“Jared and Ivanka had about as much interest in attending the funeral as they did the half dozen or so dinner invitations that Ben and Meghan pestered them with after the funeral,” a source close to the couple told The Post, referencing McCain and her husband Ben Domenech.