She’s a ‘Little Bit of a Victim Here’

on February 24, 2017 in National Harbor, Maryland. — NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - FEBRUARY 24: American Conservation Union Chairman Matt Schlapp (R) and his wife and political commentator Mercedes Schlapp (L) acknowledge the crowd during the Conservative Political Action Con... NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - FEBRUARY 24: American Conservation Union Chairman Matt Schlapp (R) and his wife and political commentator Mercedes Schlapp (L) acknowledge the crowd during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center February 24, 2017 in National Harbor, Maryland. Hosted by the American Conservative Union, CPAC is an annual gathering of right wing politicians, commentators and their supporters. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS

May 14, 2018 9:58 a.m.

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The Schlapps are one of the great power couples of the Trump Era. She’s a top communications staffer at the White House — Mercedes Schlapp. He’s the head of CPAC and a major pro-Trump talking head on CNN — Matt Schlapp. Both are longtime lobbyists and DC power players. They made a stir for making a great show of walking out of the White House Correspondents Dinner early on their way to hit the after parties, allegedly as a splashy protest over “elites” at the dinner and comedian Michelle Wolf. The two apparently tweeted their outrage from a limo on the way to the NBC afterparty. “It’s why America hates the out of touch leftist media elite,” wrote Mercedes Schlapp.

Now the two have garnered attention as the most conspicuous defenders of Kelly Sadler, the White House staffer who reportedly joked about John McCain’s terminal illness.

Mercedes Schlapp has already gotten attention for defending Sadler. Earlier this morning, Matt Schlapp said that in fact Sadler is a “little bit of a victim here,” having between betrayed by leaking White House staffers.

LOL. @mschlapp Husband of Trump staffer who keeps defending Kelly Sadler says Sadler’s “a little bit of a victim here” after joking about Sen. McCain dying. pic.twitter.com/UCwc6tz9ot

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 14, 2018

It’s actually notable that Matt Schlapp tried out a new explanation. Contrary to the “it was unacceptable but it was just a joke” line, Schlapp now says that we don’t actually know what Sadler meant, that it’s possible Sadler was just making a sobering point about mortality and vote counting.

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Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TPM.

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