Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day McConnell urges GOP senators to 'keep your powder dry' on Supreme Court vacancy McSally says current Senate should vote on Trump nominee MORE (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that President Obama is "directly responsible" for the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead and many more wounded.

About an hour after making the remarks, McCain backtracked, saying he "misspoke."

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"I did not mean to imply that the president was personally responsible," McCain said. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the president himself."

In his initial comments, the Arizona senator claimed Obama was responsible for the shooting because he allowed for the growth of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during his presidency, ABC News reported

McCain, who lost the presidential race to Obama in 2008, is facing what may be the toughest reelection of his Senate career in a race against Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick Ann KirkpatrickArizona Rep. Tom O'Halleran wins Democratic primary Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick wins Democratic primary Cook shifts 20 House districts toward Democrats MORE (D-Ariz.).

Arizona has been a relatively safe state for Republican presidential candidates, but Democrats believe their likely nominee, Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE, has a chance of turning it blue. They immediately sought to tie McCain's comments to Trump.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidGraham signals support for confirming a Supreme Court nominee this year Trump signals he will move to replace Ginsburg 'without delay' Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden MORE's (D-Nev.) office called McCain's comments "unhinged," saying they are "just the latest proof that Senate Republicans are puppets of Donald Trump."

"This is the party of Trump," a release from Reid's office said, adding there is "no daylight between Senate Republicans and Donald Trump."

Trump's campaign also welcomed the comments from McCain, who has battled with Trump in the past.

Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tweeted the headline to the Washington Post article about McCain's comments, "John McCain: Obama is ‘directly responsible’ for Orlando attack," along with a link to the article.

After the shooting early Sunday morning, Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said the president either didn't understand the radical Islamic terrorist threat or he "gets it better than anybody understands."

"We're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind," Trump said earlier this week.

"And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it, people cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on — it's inconceivable. There's something going on."

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted a link to an article claiming the president has indirectly supported the ISIS, standing behind his remarks that Obama might sympathize with terrorists.

After reports of McCain's comments were published, McCain tweeted: