ABC News' Jon Karl is relentlessly following Trump around to ask about John McCain. Trump is stonewalling him.

Jonathan Karl.
(Image credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for AWXII)

President Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet about the late Sen. John McCain, and one White House reporter has been on a mission to change that.

Jon Karl, ABC News' White House correspondent, spent part of his Monday afternoon documenting just how doggedly he was asking Trump about McCain's legacy. With similar resolve, Trump seemed determined to face stoically ahead, ignoring every single one of Karl's questions.

"In the Oval Office just now I asked [Trump] if he had any thoughts on the legacy of John McCain," tweeted Karl. "He heard me but did not answer." Later, Karl said he asked again, but that Trump "stared ahead and said nothing."

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"One more," Karl wrote a few minutes later. "I asked the president to respond to the American Legion calling for a McCain proclamation and the lowering of the White House flags. No answer." The American Legion, a veterans' organization, demanded Monday that Trump issue a formal proclamation about McCain's death, and requested that he order the flags at half-staff until McCain's burial in keeping with presidential protocol.

Trump, who once called McCain "very foul-mouthed" and frequently criticized the senator, has not commented since his initial tweet, in which he simply offered "deepest sympathies" to McCain's family.

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Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.