McCain blames his perplexing line of questioning at the Comey hearing on baseball

John McCain.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

A late night ballgame between the San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks made for a confusing line of questioning by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday at the James Comey hearing, McCain said.

McCain abruptly brought up Hillary Clinton's emails while questioning Comey, the former FBI director, and his perplexing line of thinking led some people to express concern about the Arizona senator's wellbeing:

"I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people's heads," McCain said in a statement afterward. "Maybe going forward I shouldn't stay up late watching the Diamondbacks' night games."

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McCain added: "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. 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."

At least it was a good game for the senator: The Diamondbacks beat the Padres, 7-4.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.