User:Cowding Soup/Draft for Sandstein to see per request

Kelly Sadler is an American civil servant working for the White House as Special Assistant to the President. She previous was a journalist and columnist. She wrotes Water Cooler, a daily political blog for The Washington Times website and is a regular contributor to the Times on political issues. She has been serving as Special Assistant To The President, Office of Communications since May 2017.

She is most notably recognized for her recent tenure as a junior White House official who recently is alleged to have mocked Sen. John McCain's failing health and brain cancer diagnosis by stating in a closed door meeting in front of two dozen staffers, "It doesn't matter, he's dying anyway."

Education

Sadler has a BA degree in Chinese and International Relations from Hamilton College. She has a masters in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. She speak Mandarin Chinese and English.

Early career

Sadler worked in public relations for Kaiser Associates and later in broadcasting for Bloomberg, reporting for Bloomberg from 2009–2011. She subsequently was a reporter and editor for the Washington Times.

In addition to the Times, her work has appeared on Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, the Albany Times Union, and Bloomberg. She has appeared numerous times on political shows including the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Media Buzz.

Journalism career

In January 2015, Sadler garnered significant media attention when she broke the story that political donor George Soros had given at least $33 million in one year to support activist groups during the Ferguson protests. Her story was reported in outlets including Newsmax, Fox News, RT, The Daily Mail, the New York Daily News and The Daily Beast.

In June 2015, Sadler broke the story that the Clinton Foundation had collected $26 million in donations from a fund-raising arm in Sweden at the same time the country was lobbying Clinton's State Department to forego sanctions that threatened business connections with Iran. The story received significant media attention. The report received the Society of Professional Journalists' Robert D. G. Lewis Watchdog Journalism Award for the entry that "best exemplifies journalism aimed at protecting the public from abuses by those who would betray the public trust." The award was the organization's highest award in its Washington, D.C. chapter.

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.

John McCain comments

In May 2018, Sadler was criticized for allegedly mocking the pending death of U.S. Senator John McCain. She has not offered a public apology despite criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. Matt Schlapp defended Ms. Sadler, "She's also a little bit of a victim here", Schlapp told CNN "New Day" co-anchor Chris Cuomo. Matt Schlapp is married to Mercedes Schlapp who works with Ms. Sadler in the Office of White House Communications.

Personal life

She is married to Frank Sadler, who was the campaign manager for Carly Fiorina, a CEO who ran for the Republican Party nomination for President in 2016 but lost to Trump.