McCain calls for special committee to investigate possible Trump-Russia ties
Mar 22, 2017, 6:06 PM | Updated: Mar 23, 2017, 9:03 am
.@SenJohnMcCain on Trump-Russia probe: “No longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone” –FTR https://t.co/orcnKC0uYu
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) March 22, 2017
PHOENIX — Arizona Sen. John McCain advocated for a special committee to investigate any possible ties between President Donald Trump and Russian officials during the presidential election.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Greta van Susteren on Wednesday, McCain said he does not believe Congress would be able to handle such an investigation on its own.
“This is a bizarre situation,” McCain said. “The reason why I’m calling for this select committee is I think this back-and-forth — and what the American people have found out so far is that no longer does Congress have the credibility handle this alone. And I don’t say that lightly.”
McCain’s comments come just hours after House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes briefed Trump on new evidence that alleged Trump’s transition team was legally surveilled following the election.
But the revelations, Nunes said, did nothing to change his assessment that Trump’s explosive allegations about wiretaps at Trump Tower by then-President Barack Obama were false.
The decision to brief Trump was a strange one, because Nunes bypassed his vice-chair, Rep. Adam Schiff, to do so.
Schiff retaliated by renewing the Democratic party’s calls for an independent probe of Trump campaign links to Russia — in addition to the GOP-led panel’s investigation.
McCain said the public squabble “shows a tremendous chasm between the two senior members of the House Intel Committee.”
The senior Republican senator also commented on Kim Jong-un during his interview with van Susteren, calling the North Korean leader a “crazy, fat kid.”
.@SenJohnMcCain: "Kim Jong Un, this crazy fat kid that’s running North Korea” –FTR #ForTheRecord @MSNBC https://t.co/DrlYk06iIy
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) March 22, 2017
“China is the one, the only one, that can control Kim Jong-un, this crazy fat kid that’s running North Korea,” McCain said. “They’re the ones. They could stop North Korea’s economy in a week.”
McCain also compared the North Korean leader to former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin.
“He’s not rational, Greta,” McCain said. “We’re not dealing even with someone like Joseph Stalin, who had a certain rationality to his barbarity.”
The Communist country has made several efforts to deploy missile launches — the latest on Tuesday — in an apparent show of power.
Tuesday’s launch failed as the United States sent a supersonic bomber streaking over ally South Korea in a show of force against the North, officials said.
In January, McCain called on officials to take a more aggressive stance against North Korea by deploying a missile system in the Korean Peninsula.
