Social media blows up over John McCain questioning James Comey

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption John McCain's excuse for strange questions? The Diamondbacks game Senator John McCain cites 'stay up late watching Diamondbacks night games' as the reason for his erratic questioning of James Comey.

As one journalist put it, Sen. John McCain's exchange with ex-FBI director James Comey broke Twitter on Thursday.

The Arizona Republican spent most of his allotted time for questioning Comey to ask about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of State. But his questioning wasn't exactly coming out in the most coherent manner.

“So she was clearly involved in this whole situation where, fake news — as you just described it, is a big deal — took place,” McCain said, referring to Clinton. “You’re going to have to help me out here. In other words, we’re complete, the investigation of anything former Secretary Clinton had to do with the campaign is over, and we don’t have to worry about it anymore?”

Comey replied, "I'm a little confused, senator."

Twitter users were quick to point out that they too didn't quite get what McCain was getting at, prompting McCain to issue a statement: "I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people's heads. Maybe going forward, I shouldn't stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games."

strangest thing I've ever seen from John McCain — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 8, 2017

Everyone watching John McCain during his questioning #ComeyHearings pic.twitter.com/l6yiwr3ccH — Thomas Perry (@tommyjoker73) June 8, 2017

I don't know what was up with John McCain but I'm pretty sure Hillary Clinton didn't collude with the Russians to hack herself & elect Trump — Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 8, 2017

Replay of John McCain questioning Comey:#ComeyDay pic.twitter.com/YaqZKoT5Ci — Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) June 8, 2017

I, for one, really enjoyed John McCain's Benadryl commercial — Gabriella Paiella (@GMPaiella) June 8, 2017

shorter john mccain pic.twitter.com/cQCjsdFerp — Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 8, 2017

Some expressed genuine concern about the senator, who is 80.

We should be concerned for John McCain, not make jokes about his age or health. #ComeyDay — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 8, 2017

Real talk: is John McCain ok? — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) June 8, 2017

For his part, McCain said: "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. 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 questions surrounding his interactions with President Trump – whether or not the president's conduct constitutes obstruction of justice."

He also noted that perhaps he shouldn't stay up watching night games for the Arizona Diamondbacks, a fact that the baseball team seemed to enjoy: