--- title: Trump Escalates Attack on John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan' description: After attacking late Sen. John McCain over the weekend, President Trump said Tuesday he "was never a fan" of the maverick politician. canonical: https://time.com/5554409/trump-escalates-attack-john-mccain/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-19T19:19:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:25:39.566Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Escalates Attack on John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan' og:description: Trump attacked McCain over the weekend for his alleged role in advancing the Steele dossier og:url: https://time.com/5554409/trump-escalates-attack-john-mccain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b63c84a13a19cd0/698946ed929fadb3b8bf2e62/donald-trump-john-mccain-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: donald-trump-john-mccain-comments og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Escalates Attack on John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan' twitter:description: Trump attacked McCain over the weekend for his alleged role in advancing the Steele dossier twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b63c84a13a19cd0/698946ed929fadb3b8bf2e62/donald-trump-john-mccain-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Escalates Attack on Late Sen. John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1377ce8b-af20-40f3-a6e4-959fd8acdd09&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Escalates Attack on Late Sen. John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan' [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Escalates Attack on Late Sen. John McCain: 'I Was Never a Fan'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dbeEonNU.m3u8) (0:58)  _Published 2019-03-19. President Donald Trump ramped up his attack on late Sen. John McCain Tuesday, bluntly escalating his unexpected feud with the maverick politician and prisoner of war who died seven months ago of brain cancer._ by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Mar 19, 2019 7:19 PM UTC by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Mar 19, 2019 7:19 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/tag/donald-trump/) ramped up his attack on late Sen. [John McCain](http://time.com/tag/john-mccain/) Tuesday, bluntly escalating his unexpected feud with the maverick politician and prisoner of war who [died seven months ago of brain cancer](http://time.com/5179302/john-mccain-dies/). “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office while sitting next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The president kicked off his [latest round of attacks](http://time.com/5553245/trump-mccain-steele-dossier-tweets/) against the former Arizona senator on Saturday, when he tweeted about McCain’s alleged role in advancing the so-called [Steele dossier](http://time.com/4996741/what-is-the-trump-dossier/), a document from British intelligence office Christopher Steele, that includes allegations of ties between Trump and the Russian government prior to the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly — and emphatically — dismissed the report as “fake” news, as he did again in Saturday’s tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1107020360803909632) On Sunday, Trump went after McCain again, accusing him of sending “the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1107260609974943745) (Contrary to Trump’s assertion, McCain did not receive the dossier until after the election, in December of 2017, according to the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-intelligence.html).) Although [Trump has sparred with McCain before](http://time.com/4993304/john-mccain-donald-trump-feud-remarks/) — memorably disputing the former Navy officer’s status as a war hero, and noting that “I prefer people who weren’t captured” — this weekend’s tweets mark the first time Trump explicitly connected McCain to the controversial dossier. The President’s tweets prompted a swift reaction from McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain, who responded on Twitter that “no one will ever love you the way they loved my father.” > [](https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1107030813198217217) _The View_ co-host reiterated that opinion on the daytime talk show Monday, stating that Trump “will never be a great man.” The President did not mention the Steele document specifically on Tuesday when he was asked why he was attacking McCain seven months after his death. Instead, Trump primarily criticized the late senator for not supporting his efforts to abolish Obamacare. “I’m very unhappy that he didn’t repeal and replace Obamacare, as you know,” he replied in part, before conspicuously noting. “Plus, there are other things.” ## Transcript [ CROSSTALK ] Mr President, why are you attacking Senator John McCain seven months after his death? I'm very unhappy that he didn't repeal and replace Obamacare, as you know. He campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare for years, and then it got to a vote and he said thumbs down. And our country would have saved $ 1 trillion and we would have had great healthcare. So we campaigned, he told us hours before he was going to repel and replace and then for some reason I think I understand the reason he end up going thumbs up and frankly I hadn't known that I think we would have got Gotten the vote cuz we could have gotten somebody else, so I think that's disgraceful. Plus there were other things. I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be. Thank you very much everybody, thank you. [ CROSSTALK ] Thank you, thank you very much, thank you. [ CROSSTALK ] Thank you very much. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5554409/trump-escalates-attack-john-mccain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5554409/trump-escalates-attack-john-mccain/"},"headline":"President Trump Escalates Attack on Late Sen. 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