Sen. John McCain on Sunday warned his fellow Republicans not to shut out Democrats in the Senate's health-care deliberations, which he predicted will fail.

"My view is it's probably going to be dead," McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS's Face the Nation. "... I fear that it's going to fail and then we should convene a Republican conference and say, 'What are we going to do?'"

During the television appearance, McCain also scoffed at President Donald Trump for suggesting that the United States and Russia could work together on cybersecurity and criticized Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for saying that maybe the Russians have "got the right approach and we've got the wrong approach" with regard to achieving objectives in Syria.

Trump tweeted early Sunday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday "discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit" to guard against "election hacking" and "many other negative things."

"I am sure that Vladimir Putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he's doing the hacking," McCain, a longtime Putin critic, quipped sarcastically.

U.S. authorities concluded that Russian hackers stole and distributed emails from the Democratic National Committee and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman as part of an attempt to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election.

“Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our election," Nikki Haley, Trump's U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said earlier on Face the Nation.

On health care, McCain urged Republicans not to take the route that Democrats did when they passed the Affordable Care Act — dubbed "Obamacare" by GOP critics — without the support of any Republicans.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act, which was drafted behind closed doors without input from McCain or Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was heading for a vote before the Senate's Fourth of July break but stalled because of a lack of support from majority Republicans.

Opposition to the legislation, which would largely undo former President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, has been fierce from Democrats and others who have dubbed it "Trumpcare."

And Republicans control the 100-member Senate with only a 52-member majority, far fewer members than the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

"If you shut out the adversary, or the opposite party, you're going to end up the same way 'Obamacare' did when they rammed it through with 60 votes," McCain said. "Only guess what: we don't have 60 votes."

McCain, who made repealing and replacing "Obamacare" a centerpiece of his 2016 re-election campaign, said Senate Republicans should next introduce a bill using "the normal process" and invite Democrats to participate.

"It doesn't mean that they (Democrats) control it. It means they can have amendments considered," McCain said. "And even when they lose, then they're part of the process. That's what democracy is supposed to be all about."

McCain also ripped Tillerson for his conciliatory comment about the Russian approach in Syria and volunteered that he had "agonized" over whether or not to vote to confirm Tillerson as secretary of State because of his record of making similar statements in the past.

"These are the same people that use precision-guided weapons to strike hospitals in Aleppo where sick and wounded people are," McCain said of the Russians in Syria.

Asked if he regretted supporting Tillerson's confirmation, McCain said, "Sometimes I do, but I'm still torn by the fact that the American people chose this president and he ought to be able to have his team.

"When Barack Obama won in 2008, in 2009 I voted for his team, because I think that the American people wanted him to have his team," McCain said. "But don't think I wasn't worried about it. Really worried."

McCain's lambasting of Tillerson comes amid reports that McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, is in line for an ambassador-at-large post with the State Department.

McCain told The Arizona Republic last week that such a position was "not a done deal" yet.

Tillerson on Friday also tapped Kurt Volker, the executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, as the U.S. representative for negotiations on the Ukraine crisis.

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.