Cindy McCain refutes online rumor that John McCain is leaving Senate
Mar 8, 2018, 2:19 PM | Updated: Jul 1, 2018, 11:56 am
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters as he heads to vote on budget amendments, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
PHOENIX — Cindy McCain, the wife of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), took to Twitter on Thursday to deny an online rumor that her husband would step down from the Senate.
“Contrary to popular belief [John McCain] is doing fine and has no intention of resigning,” she tweeted, adding the hashtag “crackpots.”
John McCain has been receiving treatment in Arizona for an aggressive form of brain cancer, though he has remained active both online and introducing bills.
The rumor that the senator would resign began making the rounds about lunchtime on Thursday, when several conservative accounts posted the incorrect story on social media.
JUST IN: Officials Confirm that Senator John McCain (D-AZ) is Expected to Step Down from U.S. Senate
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) March 8, 2018
BREAKING: Sen. John McCain to retire from Senate.
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) March 8, 2018
Neither account was from a reputable news source and did not link to any story.
The rumor was also reported by a website know as True Pundit, which incorrectly said John McCain was a Democrat. The story also included a fake quote a “Senate insider” supposedly gave to the Hill — a site that covers Washington, D.C.
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The True Pundit article was copied word-for-word and shared to multiple other websites.
Though the site does publish some factual articles, True Pundit has been labeled as “simply not trustworthy” by MediaBiasFactCheck.com, a website with a slightly liberal bias.
Another report from the site about former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton considering a drone strike on WikiLeaks head Julian Assange was found to be untrue by Snopes, a fact-checking website.
