Trump claims he's only attacking John McCain when asked — despite broaching the subject on Twitter

Donald Trump
(Image credit: Fox Business)

President Trump is closing out his workweek with — you guessed it — another attack on late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Trump in an interview with Fox Business that aired Friday was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about his recent attacks on the Arizona senator, who died of brain cancer last year. "John McCain is dead," Bartiromo said. "Why are you doing this?" Trump used this as an opportunity to tear into McCain once again, saying he gave Christopher Steele's Russia dossier to the FBI for "very evil purposes" and that he "was horrible" for his vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act.

"I'm not a fan," Trump said of McCain.

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Trump also insisted, though, that he's not the one bringing up the subject of McCain, saying, "I don't talk about it. People ask me the question. ... You people bring it up. I don't bring it up."

This is despite the fact that Trump originally began attacking McCain on Twitter, going after him in a tweet on Saturday and then again on Sunday, also retweeting a follower who said, "We hated McCain." This is what prompted questions from reporters. Trump also brought up McCain on his own during a speech on Wednesday, during which he went on an anti-McCain rant for several minutes.

Even if Trump were only talking about McCain when asked, though, he could always simply decline to answer these questions, a fact Trump acknowledged during this Friday interview. "I could say 'no comment,'" he said, "but that's not me." Watch Trump's latest exchange about McCain below. Brendan Morrow

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.