McCain blames late night baseball game for bizarre Comey questioning
Senator John McCain says staying up late to watch a baseball game was the reason behind his confused and often meandering questioning of former FBI chief James Comey.
The Republican questioned Comey during Thursday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, focussing on the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian interference during the 2016 election.
READ MORE: Ex-FBI chief Comey: Many news stories about Russia are ‘just dead wrong’
Speaking for nearly six minutes, McCain asked why Comey was able to state that the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server did not need to be pursued but that he could not say the same of the probe into President Donald Trump’s administration.
However, the senator’s phrasing was off at times, leaving the former FBI chief admittedly a “little confused”.
The bamboozling interaction was picked up by internet denizens and roundly mocked on Twitter.
I don't know what was up with John McCain but I'm pretty sure Hillary Clinton didn't collude with the Russians to hack herself & elect Trump
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 8, 2017
McCain: You claim those cows are far away, yet all I see are tiny cows.
— Eddie Bowley (@Eddache_) June 8, 2017
Comey: I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand the que-
McCain: Hillary
The World: "It is officially impossible for any of this to make less sense than it does now."
— Jack Dire (@luckyshirt) June 8, 2017
McCain: "Hold my alligator."
John McCain- Did you know that racecar spelled backwards is racecar and I like cheese?
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 8, 2017
Comey- What was the question?
McCain- I LOVE GREEN!
I bet "covfefe" made perfect sense to John McCain.
— andy lassner (@andylassner) June 8, 2017
Top 3 awkward moments
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) June 8, 2017
3—When Feinstein called Comey “big and strong”
2—When McCain spoke
1—When ex-FBI head repeatedly said president lied
“I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people’s heads. Maybe going forward I shouldn’t stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games,” McCain later conceded in a statement.
“What I was trying to get at was whether Mr Comey believes that any of his interactions with the president rise to the level of obstruction of justice.”
Getting sense my q's today went over ppls heads - maybe going fwd I shouldn’t stay up late watching @Dbacks games... https://t.co/r5cnX0yypm
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 8, 2017
“In the case of Secretary Clinton’s emails, Mr Comey was willing to step beyond his role as an investigator and state his belief about what ‘no reasonable prosecutor’ would conclude about the evidence. I wanted Mr Comey to apply the same approach to the key question surrounding his interactions with President Trump,” McCain added.
The Arizona Diamondbacks team have since acknowledged their honorary mention.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/oJSCTxsmE8
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 8, 2017
During Thursday’s hearing McCain apparently failed to understand the difference in timescale regarding the two separate investigations and was reminded by Comey that the Clinton email probe is over.
READ MORE: Trump asked for loyalty, Comey promised honesty ‒ ex-FBI director’s prepared remarks
“The Clinton investigation was a completed investigation that the FBI had been deeply involved in, so I had an opportunity to understand all the facts and apply those facts against the law as I understood them,” Comey explained to McCain.
“This investigation [into Trump’s administration] was under way [and] still going when I was fired. So it’s nowhere near in the same place,” Comey added.
