McCain rips ‘nut job’ jab
Sen. John McCain said on Sunday that he was “almost speechless” after learning that President Trump called axed FBI Director James Comey a “nut job” during a meeting with a Russian official who, he said, “had no business in the Oval Office.”
“I don’t know how to read it except that, I’m almost speechless,” the Arizona Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t know why someone would say something like that.”
During a White House meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Trump referred to Comey as “a real nut job” and told them he no longer “faced great pressure because” of the Russia investigation after getting rid of the man in charge of it.
The Oval Office sit-down took place May 10, a day after Trump fired Comey, who had been leading the FBI probe into Russian involvement in the presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign.
McCain called Lavrov a “propagandist” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Mr. Lavrov is the stooge of a thug and a murderer, who used Russian precision weapons to strike hospitals in Aleppo, who has committed human-rights issues all over the place,” McCain said.
But National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump made the “nut job” comment because he felt “hamstrung” in his efforts to find cooperation with Moscow.
“The gist of the conversation was that the president feels as if he is hamstrung in his ability to work with Russia to find areas of cooperation because this has been obviously so much in the news,” McMaster told ABC’s “This Week.” “And that was the intention of that portion of that conversation.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump brought up Comey’s firing to assure the Russians that the investigation wouldn’t knock him off his game.
“So I think the point he was making is, ‘I’m not going to be distracted by those things here at home or let them get in the way of important work of engaging Russia to see what can be done to improve this relationship,’ ” Tillerson said on “Fox News Sunday.”