katelyn thompson- Donald Trump is trying to turn the McCain death joke into a 'leak' scandal

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/politics/kelly-sadler-mccain-white-house/index.html

Last week, an aide to President Trump "joked" that John McCain's opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel was not important because "he's dying anyway." It's extremely evident that Kelley Sadler said this. John McCain is currently battling terminal brain cancer. The comment was then leaked and its speculated that it came from the White House. "the so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive over exaggeration put out by the Fake News in order to make us look as bad as possible," Trump tweeted.  Sadler hasn't not made a formal apology.
This article is an analysis by Chris Cillizza at CNN.
Obviously the question about what kind of White House is being run based on the staff. If a comment like this wasn't leaked who knows what other incredibly offensive things could've been said. Also the White House never made it clear that Sadler couldn't come back to work without apologizing to the Arizona senator. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders apparently scolded the White House staff but focused more on the leak than the offensive comment.
This can be related to the muckrakers during the Progressive era who leaked the political corruptness such as the Standard Oil Company and the Meat Packing industry.