Kelly Sadler

Kelly Riddell Sadler is an American journalist and former political advisor. She wrote "Water Cooler", a daily political blog for The Washington Times Web site, and was a regular contributor to the Times on political issues. She served as a special assistant to the president in the White House Office of Communications from May 2017 to June 2018.
Her tenure in the White House was marked by an incident during a May 2018 meeting where she mocked Senator John McCain's failing health by saying, "It doesn't matter, he's dying anyway." On June 5, 2018, the White House announced she was "no longer employed within the executive office of the president," although she was not removed due to her McCain comment, but rather due to her accusing her manager Mercedes Schlapp during an Oval Office meeting with Trump of leaking information to the press, as Schlapp looked on - a meeting that itself was leaked.
Education
Sadler has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese and international relations from Hamilton College and a Master of Arts in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University.
Career
Sadler worked in strategy consulting for Kaiser Associates and later as a Bloomberg News reporter from 2009 to 2011. She subsequently was a reporter and editor for The Washington Times. Her work has appeared on Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, and the Albany Times Union. She has appeared numerous times on political shows including The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Media Buzz.
In January 2015, Sadler reported rumors in The Washington Times that political donor George Soros had given at least $33 million in one year to support activist groups during the Ferguson protests which were debunked by The Daily Beast and Snopes. Sadler also shared the rumors in an interview on The O'Reilly Factor. and they were inteviewed on The Sean Hannity Show. The report received the Sigma Delta Chi Robert D. G. Lewis Watchdog Journalism Award from the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, for the entry that "best exemplifies journalism aimed at protecting the public from abuses by those who would betray the public trust."
In February 2016, the International Business Times reported that Sadler had given Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina the maximum individual campaign contribution of $2,700 in 2015. The Washington Times Executive Editor Christopher Dolan responded that this was a violation of company policy and that the paper would retroactively disclose Sadler's ties to maintain journalistic integrity.
Comments on John McCain
In May 2018, Sadler was criticized for mocking Senator John McCain by saying, "It doesn't matter, he's dying anyway", in a closed-door meeting in front of two dozen other staffers. Matt Schlapp, who is married to Sadler's White House colleague Mercedes Schlapp, defended Sadler: "She's also a little bit of a victim here," Schlapp told CNN New Day co-anchor Chris Cuomo.
Personal life
She is married to Frank Sadler, who was the manager for Fiorina's unsuccessful campaign for the Republican Party nomination for US President in 2016.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu