President Donald Trump on Thursday falsely blamed the media for baiting him into attacking the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) before launching yet another attack at the senator, who’s been dead for seven months.
“I don’t talk about about it, people ask me the question, I didn’t bring this up,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, a clip of which the network aired Thursday.
In fact, Trump first attacked McCain on Twitter over the weekend after court filings from an unsuccessful defamation suit filed against BuzzFeed News were released and showed McCain’s involvement in getting the so-called “Steele Dossier” to then-FBI Director James Comey — something that McCain acknowledged in life.
It’s true that reporters asked Trump about his attacks, but Trump has also kept the jabs going unprompted.
For example, during a speech Wednesday, Trump went on an extended riff about his involvement in McCain’s funeral.
“I didn’t get a thank you, but that’s okay,” Trump said. “We sent him on the way but I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.”
Rather than stopping at making the false claim to Bartiromo Wednesday, Trump went further and attacked McCain again, referring to the late senator’s vote against repealing Obamacare.
“I’m not a fan, he was horrible what he did with repeal and replace,” Trump said. “What he did to the Republican Party and to the nation, and to sick people that could have had great healthcare, was not good.”
This Trump-Maria Bartiromo exchange on McCain is wild. He calls McCain "horrible."
BARTIROMO: But Mr. President, he's dead, he can't punch back. I know you punch back–
TURMP: No.
BARTIROMO: –but he's dead.
TRUMP: I don't talk about it. People ask me the question. pic.twitter.com/bgdS3sD0el— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 21, 2019
