Sen. John McCain's confusing questions to former FBI Director James Comey roundly panned

Sen. John McCain confused viewers Thursday with a distracted and listless line of questioning of former FBI Director James Comey.

McCain, R-Ariz., later acknowledged he missed an opportunity with his erratic performance, which was widely panned on social media. He attributed it to staying up the night before to watch a late Arizona Diamondbacks game.

McCain's interrogation came late in the dramatic and widely watched open Senate hearing in which Comey offered his first public testimony since Trump abruptly axed him on May 9.

McCain seemed to compare Comey's decision to announce last year that no charges would be recommended against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — then the Democratic presidential nominee — over her handling of classified information and use of a private email server, and his reluctance to disclose that President Donald Trump was not personally under investigation in the Russia probe.

Trump apparently sought such an announcement from Comey, who testified that he worried doing so would require him to have to publicly correct that information should the investigation take a different direction.

FROM THE TESTIMONY:  James Comey takeaways

Comey said a big difference was that the FBI had completed its investigation into Clinton, while the investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russians was still going on, at least as of the time he exited the agency.

Earlier in the hearing, Comey unequivocally said Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election cycle "with purpose" and "sophistication." U.S. authorities have said Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton's campaign.

"I'm glad you concluded that part of the (Clinton) investigation, but I think that the American people have a whole lot of questions out there, particularly since you just emphasized the role that Russia played," McCain told Comey. "Obviously, she was a candidate for president at the time, so she was clearly involved in this whole situation where fake news, and as you've just described it, a big deal, took place."

McCain said he didn't understand how the FBI could have wrapped up the Clinton email probe, which he suggested had potential Russia-related ramifications, and not be done with the investigation into Russian interference and whether any Americans worked with them.

McCain garbled a follow-up question, in which he slipped and referred to "President Comey" rather than "President Trump."

"So you've got one candidate who you're done with and another candidate that you have a long way to go, is that correct?" McCain said.

"I don't how far the FBI has to go, but yes. The Clinton email investigation was completed," Comey replied. "The investigation of Russia's efforts in connection to the election, and whether there was any coordination, and if so, with whom, between Russia and the campaign, was ongoing when I left."

McCain said the hearing put "more and more emphasis on the Russian engagement and involvement in this campaign" and asked how serious it was.

"Very serious. But I want to say something and be clear: We have not announced, and there was no predication to announce, an investigation of whether the Russians may have coordinated with Secretary Clinton's campaign," Comey said.

"They may not have been involved with her campaign — they were involved with the entire presidential campaign, obviously," McCain said.

McCain added: "I think there's a double-standard there, to tell you the truth."

After the hearing, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was asked about McCain's allegation of a double standard between Comey's treatment of Clinton and Trump.

"I didn't follow that line of questioning very well, to be honest with you," Rubio told reporters.

Twitter commentators were less sparing in their criticism of McCain. According to the official Twitter Data account, McCain's questioning of Comey was the No. 1 most tweeted moment of the hearing, which generated a total of 3.6 million tweets.

"I hope that, as polarized as our country is right now, we can all agree that John McCain has made no sense at all in the last ten minutes," tweeted Daniel Drezner, a professor at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy who also writes for the Washington Post.

Callers to C-SPAN3 also dumped on McCain's performance immediately after the hearing, with one suggesting that McCain, who is 80, may even have had "a stroke" and another insulting him as "senile."

In a written statement after the hearing, McCain clarified his remarks, acknowledging that, based on the Twitter reactions, his questions "my line of questioning today went over people’s heads."

Making light, he added: "Maybe going forward I shouldn’t stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games."

“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," McCain explained in the statement. "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—whether or not the President’s conduct constitutes obstruction of justice.

"While I missed an opportunity in today’s hearing, I still believe this question is important, and I intend to submit it in writing to Mr. Comey for the record.”

Throughout the hearing, Comey was hit with questions from the right and left about his conversations with Trump and whether the president tried to pressure him to lay off Michael Flynn, Trump's controversial former national security adviser who was under FBI investigation.

One exchange included, according to Comey, a demand from Trump for "loyalty." Comey also testified that he perceived Trump's suggestion that he "let go" of the Flynn probe as an order, raising the spectre of possible abuse of office or obstruction of justice allegations against Trump.

Changing direction after his Clinton questions, McCain brought up a comment Comey attributed to Trump in which the president referred to "that thing" between them. He asked Comey if the vague comment aroused his curiosity and why he didn't ask Trump to clarify it.

"It didn't seem to me to be important for the conversation we were having to understand it," Comey said. "I took it to be an effort to communicate to me that there is a relationship between us where 'I've been good to you, you should be good to me.' "

McCain said, if it had happened to him, "I would like to know what the hell 'that thing' is, particularly if I'm the director of the FBI."

Comey said he thought it referred to the previous conversation in which Trump had demanded Comey's "loyalty."

McCain doesn't regularly sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee. However, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he is considered an "ex-officio" member of the intelligence panel and can participate in hearings.

It was the second day in a row in which McCain appeared with the Intelligence Committee. On Wednesday, he questioned Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, over a Washington Post report that Trump had tried to get him to intervene with the FBI over the Russia-related probe.

Coats wouldn't discuss with McCain and the other senators what he characterized as private conversations with Trump, despite the details appearing on the front page of the Post. 

Nowicki is The Arizona Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.

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