Transcript for Inside the White House

And I am Karen Travers let's go you signed the White House. The White House wants to move on from the controversy over president Trump's reaction to the passing of John McCain. After ignoring nearly a dozen questions on Monday at the White House last night the president broke his silence. Or hard. And prayers. There are going to the family Senator John McCain going to be a lot of activity over the next number of days and and we very much appreciate everything that. Senator McCain is done for our country so. Earlier Monday the president released a statement that said quote despite our differences on policy and politics. I respect senator John McCain's service to our country. The president was facing growing backlash to that muted reaction to McCain's passing on Saturday. Also the controversy over the flag flying over the White House not being at half staff for more than 2.4 hours. Of course the president ignoring a barrage of questions yesterday. By the fourth photo op at the white house on Monday the questions turned into why are you not answer any questions about John McCain. Today the president has no public events on his schedule he'll have a lunch with Defense Secretary James Mattis who was announced yesterday. As representing the administration and they came services later this week. I'm Karen Travers at the White House you're watching ABC news.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.