Sen. John McCain Thursday clarified his questioning of former FBI Director James Comey during his Capitol Hill testimony after Twitter blew up over queries that "went over people's heads."
"I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people's heads," the Arizona Republican said on Twitter. "Maybe going forward, I shouldn't stay up late watching the Diamondbacks' night games."
Near the end of more than two hours of questioning of Comey by the committee, McCain asked about the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email use and its probe of Russian meddling in the presidential election.
But Twitter blew up, with tweeters saying that the senator's questions were confusing – both to them and even Comey himself — and McCain even called the former director "President Comey" at one point.
"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," McCain said in the statement.
"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 [Donald] Trump — whether or not the president's conduct constitutes obstruction of justice.
"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."
McCain later reiterated his call for a special committee to investigate Russia.
"Every few days, another shoe drops," the senator told reporters after the hearing. "This was a classic scandal.
"It isn't the same as Watergate. It's not the same as Iran-contra, but it has the same earmarks of a new revelation every few days."