McCain calls for probe of Russian interference

Sen. John McCainJohn McCainOvernight Defense: Trump seeks B more for 2017 defense spending | Boeing VP tapped for Pentagon post Protect lives, U.S. credibility: Pass the Keeping Our Promise to Our Afghan Allies Act Why Trump's defense budget is not enough to rebuild America's military MORE (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said it's clear the Russians interfered with the U.S. presidential election and demanded an investigation.

"Whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that's a subject for investigation," McCain said on CBS's "Face The Nation."

"But the facts are stubborn things. They did hack into this campaign."

A report published Friday said the Russians intervened in the presidential election to help Donald TrumpDonald TrumpJulie Andrews: Trump's proposed budget cuts to the arts ‘mind-boggling’ Judge denies request to apply previous travel ban block to Trump's revised order State Dept: Israel will not see foreign aid cuts under Trump budget plan MORE win the presidency.

McCain during the Sunday interview said the investigation will require congressional involvement, noting the Russians have interfered in a number of other elections.

"The Russians have been using it as a tool as part of Vladimir Putin's ambition to regain Russian prominence and dominance in some parts of the world," he said.

McCain blasted Putin, calling the Russian president "a thug," " a murderer" and "a killer."

He also said he hopes the president-elect listens to people McCain and the American people respect and gets the facts on the issue.

"The facts are there about Russia's behavior," McCain said, adding that Putin views cyber as a form of warfare.

In an ideal world, McCain said, he'd like to have a select committee look into the report.

"That takes a long time, takes a lot of negotiating," he said.

"What we're going to do in the meantime is going to have a subcommittee on the armed services committee...and we'll go to work on it. We'll go to work immediately. Because the issue of cyber is not a static issue."

McCain added that the issue is too important to be made into a partisan matter.

"A fundamental of a democracy is a free and fair election," he said.

"I am confident that we can address this in a bipartisan fashion."