Sen. John McCain’s upcoming book details how he handed to the FBI the infamous “dossier” of unproven allegations about President Trump, and defends the act as patriotic “duty.”
According to a report Wednesday in the Daily Beast, Mr. McCain acknowledges in his upcoming book “The Restless Wave,” that he met personally with then-FBI Director James P. Comey to give him the salacious material.
“I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as ’the dossier,’ ” the Arizona Republican wrote. “I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation’s security should have done.”
He said he went to see Mr. Comey “at his earliest convenience, handed him the dossier, explained how it had come into my possession.”
“I said I didn’t know what to make of it, and I trusted the FBI would examine it carefully and investigate its claims. With that, I thanked the director and left. The entire meeting had probably not lasted longer than ten minutes. I did what duty demanded I do,” Mr. McCain wrote, according to the Daily Beast, which received advance copies of the book, due out May 22.
The dossier, compiled by a former British spy in the pay of Democratic opposition researchers, was published raw by BuzzFeed in January 2017 and reported on by other news outlets.
At the time, Mr. McCain was identified as the man who put it in the FBI’s hands in December 2016. He acknowledged involvement in a statement at the time.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.