Talking Points Memo reports:
President Donald Trump on Thursday falsely blamed the media for baiting him into attacking the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) before launching yet another attack at the senator, who’s been dead for seven months.
“I don’t talk about about it, people ask me the question, I didn’t bring this up,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, a clip of which the network aired Thursday.
In fact, Trump first attacked McCain on Twitter over the weekend after court filings from an unsuccessful defamation suit filed against BuzzFeed News were released and showed McCain’s involvement in getting the so-called “Steele Dossier” to then-FBI Director James Comey — something that McCain acknowledged in life.
NBC News reports:
In an interview on Fox Business Network with Maria Bartiromo, Trump denied that his position on the Golan Heights had anything to do with the upcoming Israeli election.
“I wouldn’t even know about that,” Trump said. “I have no idea — I hear he’s doing okay, I don’t know if he’s doing great right now, but I hear he’s doing okay. But I would imagine the other side, whoever’s against him, is also in favor of what I just did. Every president has said, ‘Do that.’ I’m the one that gets it done.”
But the advantage for Israel’s embattled prime minister, who is facing a poplar former Army chief of staff, Benny Gantz, in the April 9 election, are unmistakable.
Mediaite reports:
President Donald Trump‘s most recent attack on the late Sen. John McCain was so egregious that even Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo called him out during a new interview, pointing out that McCain “can’t punch back.” “He’s dead. Senator John McCain is dead. Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“It’s not a good portion of my time, it’s a very small portion,” Trump said, before repeating several of his favorite attacks about McCain, which themselves contain numerous falsehoods.
This Trump-Maria Bartiromo exchange on McCain is wild. He calls McCain “horrible.”
BARTIROMO: But Mr. President, he’s dead, he can’t punch back. I know you punch back–
TURMP: No.
BARTIROMO: –but he’s dead.
TRUMP: I don’t talk about it. People ask me the question. pic.twitter.com/bgdS3sD0el— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 21, 2019
Trump claims to Maria Bartiromo that he merely was answering questions about McCain. In fact, he inserted McCain in his tweetstorm on Sunday. No one had asked. pic.twitter.com/9s1oAMfIpm
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 21, 2019
Maria Bartiromo pressed Trump several times why the president continued to verbally attack McCain when he’s dead.
“They gave [the Steele dossir] to John McCain, who gave it to the FBI for very evil purposes,” Trump replied. https://t.co/PGNlDtgk4J
— Rebecca Morin (@RebeccaMorin_) March 21, 2019
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo set to air tomorrow, Donald Trump says John McCain gave the Steele dossier “to the FBI for very evil purposes, that’s not good.”
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) March 21, 2019
Told McCain is dead and can’t respond, Trump tells Bartiromo he’s reacting to Qs—and keeps attacking: “He was horrible what he did with repeal and replace. What he did to the Republican Party and to the nation and to sick people… So I’m not a fan of John McCain and that’s fine.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 21, 2019