US President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted those inside the White House leaking internal deliberations and described them as “traitors and cowards”.

“The so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive over exaggeration put out by the Fake News Media in order to make us look as bad as possible,” he said in a tweet.

“With that being said, leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!” Trump added. His tweet comes amid a latest leak from the White House in which Kelly Sadler, a White House communication aide, made a crass comment against Senator John McCain, who is battling brain cancer.

During an internal meeting last week, Sadler reportedly dismissed McCain’s opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel for CIA director by, saying “it does not matter, he is dying anyway”.

The Senator from Arizona is undergoing treatment after he was diagnosed with cancer last July. Sadler later apologised to the McCain family. “I was told Kelly Sadler called the McCain family late last week and did apologise,” White House Deputy Principal Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters during a news conference.

“I wasn’t on the call. I was told she made it prior to the story being published. She apologised for the comment,” he told reporters, sidestepping multiple questions on White House apology.

PTI