McCain: AG nominee unfit because she supports Obama’s executive action

Sen. John McCain said Friday that attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch’s support of President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration makes her unfit for the post.

While saying Lynch is “very well-qualified,” McCain said Obama himself has said himself that it would be unconstitutional to act on immigration issues through executive action.

“We have to send a message to the president that we will not agree to his nominees who endorse his unconstitutional behavior,” he said at a news conference at his Phoenix office.

Obama nominated Lynch in November to replace Eric Holder as attorney general. The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed her after holding confirmation hearings, but the Senate has yet to vote on her nomination.

Democratic senators wrote a letter Thursday asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to schedule a vote soon.

On other matters, McCain said he wants to see ports of entry expanded along the Arizona/Mexico border in order to expand trade.

“Arizona does more trading with Mexico than Mexico does with Spain,” he said. “We are going to continue to work to get the funding for the expansion of our ports of entry.”

McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a Pentagon proposal to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt close-support fighter jet, a fixture of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, won’t be authorized.

“We have made it clear to the Air Force that we will not authorize the further reductions in the A-10 status until such time when the Air Force has an adequate replacement, which they don’t have,” he said.

Asked about whether he would run for a sixth Senate term in 2016, McCain said he hasn’t had time to discuss it.

“Sometime in the next week or two I will sit down with my advisers,” he said. “Every indication is that I will be announcing.”