John McCain: Trump scandals reaching 'Watergate size and scale'

Republican Senator John McCain has reportedly said that the current crisis involving Donald Trump and the White House are reaching a "Watergate size and scale."

McCain made the statement while speaking to International Republican Institute dinner on Tuesday night (16 May).

Multiple reporters tweeted out that the Arizona senator compared recent reports surrounding Trump's administration to Watergate.

His statement came just hours after a bombshell report that Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey in February to stop his investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The White House quickly rejected the report but acknowledged a "conversation" had occurred between Trump and Comey.

There has been a significant backlash following the firing of Comey and reports that he revealed highly confidential information to Russian diplomats.

This was something that caught the eye of the public after several Republicans including Trump and speaker Paul Ryan all criticised the way that Hillary Clinton had handled classified information via a private email server.

McCain also reportedly criticised Trump during his speech, calling it "unacceptable" to have allowed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov into the Oval Office.

What was Watergate?

The scandal surrounding Watergate erupted when in 1972, the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, which was then based in the Watergate Office Building, were burgled, multiple documents including photographs, and telephones were wiretapped.

A later investigation was set up looking into the burglary which found that officials in the Richard Nixon administration had ordered the break-in and had attempted to cover-up any involvement.

As the scandal unfolded, it eventually led to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.