Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar revealed an unusual detail about what deceased Arizona Senator John McCain said during President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
Klobuchar told an Iowa crowd Saturday that McCain kept saying dictator names to her during Trump’s 2017 inauguration speech, according to CNN.
This conversation happened while Klobuchar sat between Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and John McCain, according to the Huffington Post.
“I sat on that stage between Bernie and John McCain, and John McCain kept reciting to me names of dictators during that speech because he knew more than any of us what we were facing as a nation,” Klobuchar said. “He understood it. He knew because he knew this man more than any of us did.”
McCain played an important role in spreading the fake Steele Dossier, which claimed the Russian government had damaging information about Trump. The Daily Caller reported that David Kramer, a former associate of McCain, provided the dossier to reporters from several media outlets.
In unsealed court filings, Kramer said McCain gave a copy of the dossier to former FBI Director Jim Comey.
“I think they felt a senior Republican was better to be the recipient of this rather than a Democrat because if it were a Democrat, I think that the view was that it would have been dismissed as a political attack,” he said in his testimony.
The former Arizona Senator was a long time critic of President Trump. McCain famously said he could not support the president after the “Access Hollywood” tapes were released in the weeks preceding Election Day 2016.
Nearly a year later, the late Senator’s cast the deciding vote that doomed the repeal of the disastrous, so-called “Affordable Care Act” in 2017.
The President tweeted his disappointment after the vote.
John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
“John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!”
In 2018, McCain called the news conference Trump had with Vladamir Putin after their meeting “one of the most disgraceful performances in memory” by a United States President.
Trump said earlier this year that he never was a fan of John McCain, adding, “and I never will be.”
Upon learning about Klobuchar’s comments, McCain’s daughter and co-host of The View Meghan McCain responded to Klobuchar’s story via Twitter.
“On behalf of the entire McCain family – @amyklobuchar please be respectful to all of us and leave my fathers legacy and memory out of presidential politics,” McCain said.
On behalf of the entire McCain family – @amyklobuchar please be respectful to all of us and leave my fathers legacy and memory out of presidential politics.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 27, 2019
Tim Hogan, the presidential candidate’s communication’s director, defended Klobuchar’s comments in a Monday statement:
Senator Klobuchar had a long-time friendship with Senator McCain, she has defended him against President Trump’s attacks in the past, and she has deep respect for his family. While she was simply sharing a memory, she continues to believe that the best stories about Senator McCain are not about the views he had about President Trump: They are about McCain’s own valor and heroism.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Battleground State News.
Background Photo “Amy Klobuchar” by Amy Klobuchar.
