Trump attacks McCain over Steele dossier
President Donald Trump again attacked late Sen. John McCain on Saturday, prompting the Arizona Republican’s daughter Meghan McCain to respond that “no one will ever love” Mr. Trump the way they loved her father.
Mr. Trump’s recent attack on Mr. McCain, who passed away in August, is the latest in his yearslong offensive feud against the late senator, this time targeting Mr. McCain’s ties to the controversial Russia dossier and his vote against repealing Obamacare.
“Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier ‘is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain,’” Mr. Trump tweeted, quoting Ken Starr, the independent counsel who investigated then-President Bill Clinton.
Mr. Starr called the dossier “a very dark stain” against Mr. McCain in an interview Saturday on Fox News, but also called Mr. McCain “a great man” and “an American hero.”
The comments referred to a series of memos written in 2016 by retired British spy Christopher Steele. They alleged a widespread conspiracy of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, which both sides deny. The most salacious and damning allegations in the dossier remain unverified to this day. But the claims that form the bulk of the memos have held up over time, or at least proved to be partially true.
McCain associate and former State Department diplomat David Kramer received copies of the dossier in 2016 and shared it with a reporter at BuzzFeed, according to court records. BuzzFeed then published the dossier in full, following CNN reports that then-President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump had been briefed about it.
Mr. McCain denied giving the dossier to BuzzFeed in a 2017 interview with the Daily Caller but did acknowledge providing it to the FBI. He provided a copy of the unconfirmed memos to then-FBI Director James Comey.
Meghan McCain did not mince words in her response, accusing Mr. Trump of being fixated on her father’s legacy.
“No one will ever love you the way they loved my father,” she tweeted Saturday.