Thomson Reuters
US Sen. John McCain on a visit at a migrant center near the village of Adasevci, Serbia.
The Republican senator from Arizona reportedly argued that Obama is to blame for the shooting that left 49 people dead because his administration's Middle East policy led to the rise of the terrorist group ISIS.
"Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al-Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama's failures," McCain said, according to The Washington Post.
McCain make the remarks to a small group of reporters in a Senate hallway, according to the Post. His comments were made in response to a question about gun control.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's office quickly issued a statement condemning McCain's comments.
"Senator McCain's unhinged comments are just the latest proof that Senate Republicans are puppets of Donald Trump," said Adam Jentleson, Reid's deputy chief of staff.
"This is the party of Trump."
The gunman who carried out the Orlando attack, a US citizen, pledged allegiance to ISIS in phone calls and Facebook posts made during the attack.
A representative for McCain did not immediately return a request for comment. The senator issued this response on Twitter:
To clarify, I was referring to Pres Obama's national security decisions that have led to rise of #ISIL, not to the President himself
- John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 16, 2016