Fox News won’t invite back retired military guest who said torture “worked on” Sen. John McCain.
Fox News is severing its relationship with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, who inaccurately claimed during an appearance on Fox Business Network Thursday that torture “worked on” Sen. John McCain, who endured a brutal 5 1⁄ years as a prisoner
2 of war in North Vietnam.
The claim went unchallenged by the show’s host, Charles Payne. He apologized after the show and McCain’s wife, Cindy, who has been caring for her husband at their home near Sedona, admonished Fox Business Network and Payne.
McCain, an 81-year-old Arizona Republican, has brain cancer.
A Fox News spokeswoman told various media outlets on Friday that McInerney will not be invited back for appearances on Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel.
McInerney has served as a contributing military analyst for the network; according to the spokeswoman, his contract ended last August.
McInerney’s comments about McCain came during a conversation about President Donald Trump’s CIA nominee, Gina Haspel.
During her testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, she would not address the morality of interrogation techniques.
Asked how Congress should consider Haspel, McInerney said, “the fact is ... it worked on John. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John.’”
McCain has always talked candidly about how he made a false confession tape after enduring “days of extreme physical abuse” and that he always regretted it.
Cindy McCain addressed the network and McInerney, writing on Twitter, “Please choose your guest more wisely.”
McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma in July. He is at his family retreat near Sedona, where he has been visiting with family and friends, who are crisscrossing the country to spend time with him.
On Wednesday, McCain weighed into the public debate over Haspel, a 33-year CIA veteran. He called her an American patriot, but said her “role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”
As a candidate, Trump questioned McCain’s status as a war hero and the two have clashed over numerous issues, including Trump’s support of tortuous interrogation tactics.