CNN anchor hits Trump: He didn’t go to Vietnam ‘until he was in his 70s’ with ‘Secret Service protection’

CNN anchor Ana Cabrera on Sunday called out President Trump for failing to go to Vietnam until he was equipped with “Secret Service protection” after the president renewed his attacks against late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). 

Cabrera made the comments while noting that Trump has yet to forcefully denounce white supremacy in light of the mosque shootings that left dozens dead in New Zealand. 

{mosads}”The president did use his direct line to the American people to take more cheap shots at an American war hero who’s not even alive to defend himself,” Cabrera said on “CNN Newsroom.” “Trump again slamming the late senator John McCain today, he says, for trying to derail his run for the presidency in 2016.”

Cabrera noted that the attacks from Trump caused one of his allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to defend McCain as “one of the most consequential senators” in U.S. history. 

“Clearly not a position held by the president, who did, to his credit, go to Vietnam, although not until he was in his 70s and with Secret Service protection,” Cabrera added, apparently referencing Trump’s military record as well as the recent summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

Trump railed against McCain on multiple occasions over the weekend after reports surfaced that one of the then-senator’s associates had shared a dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia with the media. 

“So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!”

He also said on Twitter on Saturday that McCain’s vote against the GOP Senate’s 2017 attempt to repeal ObamaCare was a “stain” on his career. 

Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier “is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain.” Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse “stains” than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2019

The tweets prompted widespread criticism almost immediately.  

“As to @SenJohnMcCain and his devotion to his country: He stepped forward to risk his life for his country, served honorably under difficult circumstances, and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body,” Graham said on Twitter shortly after Trump’s latest attack on Sunday. “Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished.”

“No one will ever love you the way they loved my father,” McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted on Saturday.

But Cabrera noted on CNN that other Republican voices “have been quiet” regarding Trump’s attacks on a senator who was deeply critical of him.

McCain, who served in Vietnam before embarking on a long career in public service, died in August at the age of 81 after a battle with brain cancer. Trump has occasionally brought up McCain’s vote against the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare since his death.