claim: John McCain was no longer a U.S. Senator as of July 2017.
origin: On 12 July 2017, the US News House web site published a report with the headline: â€œJust In: John McCain is NO LONGER A SENATOR.â€ < Five and a half years after Senator John McCain killed off what was left of The Maverick â€” the independent-thinking, â€œnot afraid to tell it like it isâ€ character heâ€™d been LARPing since the 2000 Republican primary â€” in order to win a contentious primary against Tea Party challenger J.D. Hayworth, heâ€™s facing the prospect of the end of hisÂ career once again. This time, itâ€™s against a state senator whoâ€™s perfectly content with grifting votes at a Donald Trump rally. McCainâ€™s seat has been targeted by conservative groups for years now to no avail, but this time, itâ€™s a fair question to ask if McCainâ€™s heart is in it anymore. > The same article was republished four days later by the Royal Column and Conservative Army web sites. Those web sites donâ€™t repeat or provide any evidence for the claim made in the headline â€“ that McCain had left office. The headline is no more than click-bait, and the article itself consists entirely of material copied and pasted from a January 2016 Salon.comÂ opinion pieceÂ by Paul Blest.Â The article mentions McCainâ€™s 2010 Republican primary victory over former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth and says â€œthis time,â€ heâ€™s facing a state senator. This is a reference to Kelli Ward, the former Arizona State Senator who challenged John McCain in the 2016 Senate primary, and whom McCain ultimately defeated.Â Itâ€™s possible the 18-month-old opinion piece was plagiarized in July 2017 amid concerns over the Arizona senatorâ€™s health. McCain is 80 years old, and underwent brain surgery on 14 July 2017 to remove a blood clot from above his left eye, leaving him in recovery for more than a week and causing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the Republican health care plan.Â