Twitter Reacts To McCain's Confusing Questions At Comey Hearing

Twitter users mocked John McCain after the Arizona senator asked ousted FBI director James Comey questions that were seemingly unrelated to a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

McCain's questions neither focused on the allegations that candidate Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during last year's presidential election, nor the testimony that Comey gave about having private conversations with the commander in chief. Instead, the Republican senator spent most of his time asking Comey about Hillary Clinton's 2016 email investigation.

"The American people have a whole lot of questions out there, particularly since you just emphasized the role that Russia played, and obviously she was a candidate for president at the time," McCain said to Comey.

"I’m a little confused, Senator," Comey replied to McCain.

Likewise, the microblog erupted with hundreds of tweets expressing confusion with the McCain's line of questioning.

McCain's questions neither focused on the allegations that candidate Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during last year's presidential election, nor the testimony that Comey gave about having private conversations with the commander in chief. Instead, the Republican senator spent most of his time asking Comey about Hillary Clinton's 2016 email investigation.

"The American people have a whole lot of questions out there, particularly since you just emphasized the role that Russia played, and obviously she was a candidate for president at the time," McCain said to Comey.

READ: Russia Hack US Election? Comey Says Russians Targeted Hundreds Of US Entities

Undeterred, McCain continued to press Comey on the Clinton campaign.

"So she was clearly involved in this whole situation where, fake news — as you just described it, is a big deal — took place,” the senator said. “You’re going to have to help me out here. In other words, we’re complete, the investigation of anything former Secretary Clinton had to do with the campaign is over, and we don’t have to worry about it anymore?"

The questions prompted Comey to clarify that Clinton was not linked to the Russians in the same way that Trump was allegedly being investigated.

"But I want to say something to be clear: We have not announced, and there was no prediction to announce an investigation into whether the Russians had coordinated with Secretary Clinton’s campaign," Comey told McCain.

After that exchange, McCain took his last few minutes to address part of Comey's testimony and "that thing" that Trump asked him. "It didn’t seem to me to be important for the conversation we were having to understand it," Comey said.

READ: What Does Defame Mean? James Comey Says Trump Lied

McCain defended his questions with a statement issued hours after the hearing.

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

"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," his statement said. "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."

McCain added: "While I missed an opportunity in today's hearing, I still believe this question is important, and I intend to submit it in writing to Mr. Comey for the record."