--- title: John McCain Criticizes Donald Trump Jr. After Russia Meeting description: John McCain sharply criticized Donald Trump Jr. for taking a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the 2016 campaign canonical: https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-12T00:34:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:31:01.320Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain on Trump Jr.: My Sons Would Be Court-Martialed If They Did That og:description: "The people around me would not be inclined to do that kind of thing" og:url: https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: John-McCain-Joe-Lieberman-Donald-Trump-FBI-Director og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain on Trump Jr.: My Sons Would Be Court-Martialed If They Did That twitter:description: "The people around me would not be inclined to do that kind of thing" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain on Donald Trump Jr.: My Sons Would Be Court-Martialed If They Did That > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 12, 2017 12:34 AM UTC  Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Paul Morigi—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 12, 2017 12:34 AM UTC [Senator John McCain](http://time.com/4811629/john-mccain-james-comey-testimony-questions-arizona-diamondbacks/) sharply criticized Donald Trump Jr. for taking a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the 2016 campaign, claiming such an interaction would have been unacceptable when he was the Presidential nominee in 2008. “I can assure you the people around me would not be inclined to do that kind of thing, especially not one of my sons. ‘Cause my sons—they’re in the military. You know, they’d probably be court-martialed,” McCain said Tuesday, [the _Weekly Standard_ reports. ](http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/senate-republicans-eager-to-hear-from-donald-trump-jr./article/2008785) Trump Jr. finds himself at the center of a political controversy after the New York _Times_ reported his meeting with Veselnitskaya. While he originally said the meeting was centered around adoption policies, the _Times_ subsequently reported that he met with Veselnitskaya because he was promised compromising information on Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday, Trump Jr. released an email chain confirming[ he had been promised](http://time.com/4853005/donald-trump-jr-emails-hillary-clinton-russia/) “very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” After he released the emails, McCain was one of several Republican Senators who said Trump Jr. needed to testify before Congress. “We’ve got a lot more to learn about the whole issue. … Another shoe drops from the centipede every few days,” he said, [according to the _Standard._ ](http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/senate-republicans-eager-to-hear-from-donald-trump-jr./article/2008785) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/"},"headline":"John McCain on Donald Trump Jr.: My Sons Would Be Court-Martialed If They Did That","datePublished":"2017-07-12T00:34:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:31:01.320Z","description":"\"The people around me would not be inclined to do that kind of thing\"","url":"https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John-McCain-Joe-Lieberman-Donald-Trump-FBI-Director","caption":"Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Paul Morigi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4854210/john-mccain-donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting/","name":"John McCain on Donald Trump Jr.: My Sons Would Be Court-Martialed If They Did That"}}]}] ```