Sen. John McCain said he’d urge President Trump to stop tweeting and attacking Republicans if he were to talk to the president again.
“We’ve got enough people who attack them,” Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican, said in an interview that aired Thursday on MSNBC, referring to his party.
Mr. McCain also said the role of the press is “more important than ever before.”
“I hate the press, OK, but the fact is without a free press in this country, the pillar of Democracy is destroyed,” he said.
The interview was a reflective one for Mr. McCain who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer earlier this year. He has said he’s committed remaining in the Senate and working for as long as he can, and hopes to foster more bipartisanship as he’s done his entire career.
Mr. McCain reminisced about his relationship with Sen. Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, who died in 2009 of the same type of brain cancer. The two were fierce opponents, but they worked together on legislation during their time together in the Senate.
“He and I would yell at each other, and we would fight and then we’d walk off and he’d put his arm around me and say, hey, we did pretty good, didn’t we?” Mr. McCain said, describing his interactions with Kennedy.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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