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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says the leak of an unverified dossier claiming Russia has compromising information about Donald Trump is unfair to the president-elect. “The president-elect has a point,” McCain said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends." "The fact that this un-validated document, to say the least, was leaked — it’s somebody’s responsibility," said McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The very fact that it was leaked, one, is a commentary on this town," he said. "Second, [it is] totally wrong to have that out.” “[It is] an un-validated document that is damning out there among the American...

Freshman Tea Party Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is incensed that Republicans caved in the payroll-tax debate, and is putting the blame squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “I don’t think there’s a revolt with respect to Speaker Boehner,” Gowdy said Thursday night on Fox’s "Your World With Neil Cavuto." "I think the license tag of the truck that just ran over us has Kentucky license tags. For the life of me, I cannot understand when the Senate is going to find something they care enough about to stand on policy and principle.”Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a...

WASHINGTON -- If U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to know why his foreign aid bill has stalled in the Senate, he need only look in the direction of the junior senator from South Carolina. In an extraordinary clash between Republican senators from the same state, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to postpone consideration this week of a $53.3 billion foreign aid bill, backed by Graham. DeMint demanded the bill be debated by itself and not combined with other spending measures. “I respect and work well with Lindsey, and I share his goal to secure our...

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In 2008, John McCain's campaign team discussed whether they should let Sarah Palin be sworn in as vice-president if they were to win the election, according to campaign staffer Nicolle Wallace. "There certainly were discussions -- not for long because of the arc the campaign took -- but certainly there were discussions about whether, if they were to win, it would be appropriate for her to be sworn in," Wallace tells Time's Claire Suddath. In her new novel, It's Classified, Wallace has a character -- a mentally ill female vice-president -- which she says is based on her experience working...

<p>Cheney writes that in 2008 he was puzzled about GOP presidential nominee John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and request a meeting with congressional leaders to discuss the financial crisis at the White House.</p> <p>“Senator McCain added nothing of substance,” Cheney writes about the now-famous meeting. “It was entirely unclear why he’d returned to Washington and why he’d wanted the congressional leadership called together. I left the Cabinet Room when the meeting was over thinking the Republican presidential ticket was in trouble.”</p>

A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable shows that Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain promised to help Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi obtain U.S. military hardware in 2009. The cable, released by the open information group WikiLeaks, reveals the pledge came at meeting that was attended by other prominent members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).In the meeting, Muatassim Qadhafi, the Libyan leader’s fifth son and national security adviser, requested U.S. assistance in obtaining military supplies, both lethal and non-lethal. The cable indicates that McCain was the dominant voice among the congressional delegation in a...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain says he'll vote for compromise legislation averting a government default, although "I will probably have to swallow hard."

As rain splatters the windows of Sen. John McCain’s second-floor office on Capitol Hill, the 74-year-old Arizona Republican leans back, clasps his hands, and recalls the Nineties. Brinksmanship, he says, cost the party then, and it could cripple Republicans this summer — especially if Rep. Michele Bachmann gets her way. Over in the House, “I am told that it is very difficult,” McCain says. “There are Republicans who are committed, like Michele Bachmann, to vote against raising the debt limit under any circumstances.” Bachmann, he warns, is acting “sort of like Senator Obama did.”(snip) Yet as poorly as Obama has...

For 25 years, war has fortified — and nearly destroyed — the ties binding John McCain and John F. Kerry. (snip) Concerned about what they see as an isolationist and fearful drift in both of their parties, Kerry (D-Mass.) and McCain (R-Ariz.) are advocating an even more forceful role for America in the world. (snip) Kerry and McCain are leading the fight in Congress to shore up support for U.S. action in Libya... (snip) The elder statesmen are also hoping to forge something resembling a Marshall Plan for the Middle East... (snip) But the Kerry-McCain partnership was derailed when Kerry...

Cairo (CNN) -- U.S. Sens. John McCain and John Kerry focused on the U.S. and Egyptian economies during a trip to Egypt Saturday and Sunday. Their stop in Cairo was part of a broader trip to promote U.S. economic ties in the region. "As America continues to struggle with its economic recovery, we face no more urgent priority than to expand our trade and investment in the world," McCain said in a Sunday statement. (snip) McCain reiterated, in a speech at the plant, America's willingness to provide Egypt with political and financial assistance during the country's transitional phase. "The American...

It wasn't long ago that the conservative, free-market Club for Growth was viewed by a swath of Republicans as a furtive, well-heeled enemy whose efforts to purge moderates from the GOP had to be thwarted. The club and its agenda are "not representative of the Republican Party," the director of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate GOP congressional members, once said, adding: "We raise money on a daily basis to defeat them." When asked this week about the Republican animus the group faced in the recent past, Club for Growth executive director David Keating replied: "That sounds...

The term “isolationist” is much like the word “racist” in that it has become almost useless due to its overuse. For example, if the Left rightly considers Ku Klux Klan members racist—but also members of the Tea Party who merely criticize President Obama “racist”—such a glaring logical disparity cries out for a reassessment of terminology. A word that can mean anything can quickly become meaningless—and it also becomes a great rhetorical weapon in a political environment that substitutes smears for thoughtful debate. Such was the case at the Wall Street Journal last week which published an editorial entitled: “The Kucinich...

(snip) During the comments, talk turned briefly to whether McCain would support former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - his running mate during the 2008 presidential election - in a bid for the White House in 2012. McCain said it is all hypothetical at this point, as Palin has not officially announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination. "I'm proud of Sarah Palin. I'm proud of the campaign that she ran and she invigorated our campaign," McCain said. "I think she will be a very formidable candidate if she decides to seek the nomination of the Republican Party." The New...

The tactic Republicans used to win the midterm election was to tie every Democrat in Washington, D.C. to Barack Obama. He and his liberal policies were so unpopular that identifying a Democrat candidate with the president delivered a Republican's victory. At the ballot box, the American people sent liberalism to the woodshed. The nation cast off Obama, as well as Pelosi and much of her progressive Congress. In January, the Republicans triumphantly arrived in Washington, D.C. promising to repeal health care reform, address out-of-control spending, and elevate conservative principles by making the U.S. Constitution the foundation of legislative discussion. It's...

WASHINGTON -- Two years after running against President Barack Obama, Senator John McCain says he sees a change. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," McCain expressed optimism that Obama will lead Democrats and Republicans to find common ground on key issues.(snip) Asked if the push to repeal health care reform is a waste of time -- because Senate Democrats will block repeal and, should it pass, the president would veto it -- McCain said, "We need to have a vote on it because we promised the people we would. We campaigned that we would `repeal and replace'. We have to...

(snip) I disagree with many of the president's policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country's cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals.(snip)

Congress should take up work on comprehensive immigration reform once the U.S. borders are secure, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday. McCain, a longtime proponent of comprehensive reform who had tacked right in his race for reelection last year, said that an immigration deal could be an area of compromise between Republicans and Democrats. "Once we get the border secured — and we can get the border secured — I would look forward to working on comprehensive immigration reform," the 2008 Republican presidential nominee said on NBC's "Today" show. The Arizona senator had in the past favored legislation that would...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to Twitter on Friday to say he has "serious concerns w/ some provisions" of the tax legislation unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but that he'll support it anyway. The bill, introduced Thursday, leaves President Obama's compromise largely unaltered but adds tax credits for alternative energy, energy-efficient homes and other "green" efforts. These provisions aim to soothe liberal Democrats who oppose the deal's extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.

(snip) ALAN MURRAY: Sen. McCain, I wonder if you could tell us, from where you sit, what the message of this election in the United States is. JOHN MCCAIN: It was a revolt. It was not a revolution. Revolutions take a long time. It was revolt on the part of the American people who believe that their government has lost touch with them and they have lost touch with their government. And any Republican who thinks that it was a vote in favor of Republicans should look at our approval ratings. Last time I checked, it's around 17%. When you...