(CNN) Sen. John McCain blasted President Donald Trump on Friday for approving the release of the highly controversial GOP-Nunes memo, saying "if we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin's job for him."

McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Forces Committee, called on Trump and other elected officials to stop looking at special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation through "the warped lens of politics."

"In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy," McCain said. "... While we have no evidence that these efforts affected the outcome of our election, I fear they succeeded in fueling political discord and dividing us from one another."

In a written statement released around the same time the memo was declassified, the Arizona Republican characterized the memo and its release as "partisan attacks" on the FBI and the Department of Justice.

The so-called attacks "serve no American interests," he added -- "no party's, no president's, only Putin's."

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