Trump attacks McCain, drawing rebuke

President Donald Trump is again training his fire on the late Sen. John McCain, nearly seven months after the Arizona Republican’s death from brain cancer.

Trump’s tweets over the weekend prompted a rebuke from the senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain, and from some lawmakers.

On Saturday, Trump quoted former independent counsel Ken Starr, who criticized McCain on a recent Fox News show. In the segment, Starr referred to reports that a McCain ally had shared with the media parts of a dossier that allegedly included information linking Trump to the Russian government.

Trump piled on in his Saturday night tweet, criticizing McCain for his vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

Meghan McCain tweeted in response: “No one will ever love you the way they loved my father ... I wish I had been given more Saturday’s with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine?”

Sunday morning, Trump was at it again.

Returning to the subject of the Steele dossier, Trump incorrectly stated that John McCain, who the president claimed had been “last in his class” at the U.S. Naval Academy, had “sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.”

Trump’s tweet contained three errors. McCain, a member of the Naval Academy’s class of 1958, graduated fifth from last in his class. The senator was not made aware of the Steele dossier until Nov. 18, 2016 — after Trump had won the election. And there is no evidence that McCain gave the dossier to the media.

Former McCain aide David Kramer, a Russia expert, testified that he gave the dossier to the media in December 2016. McCain himself gave the dossier to the FBI, but there is no evidence that he gave it to the media.

Some of McCain’s former Senate colleagues defended him in the wake of Trump’s tweet.

On CNN Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a 2020 presidential contender, called Trump’s attacks on McCain “just another outrageous action by the president.”