welcome to "the lead." i'm jim sciutto in for jay. and the white house moments ago going the trumpy an route and refusing to apologize time and time again about a cruel joke a staffer made about john mccain dying of cancer. that is right, a joke about him dying of cancer and refusing to answer if this overall tone comes from the very top. >> we -- there is not a -- a tone set here. we have a -- a respect for all americans. and that is what we try to put forward in everything we do, both in word and in action. >> why not just apologize to senator mccain. >> i won't get into a back and forth because people want to create issues of leaked staff meeting. >> well, not only did the white house not say those simple words were sorry, but as you heard there, pointed to the leak, that led to that cruel joke getting out in the first place. let's begin with kaitlin collins, at the white house.