US Senator John McCain, Vietnam war veteran who ran unsuccessfully against former US President Barack Obama as a Republican candidate passed away on Saturday, his office said. He was 81. McCain was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, 2017
A statement from his office on Saturday said: "Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28 p.m. on August 25, 2018. With the senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years."
The office didn't provide further details immediately.
Former President Obama in a lengthy statement said, "Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did."
Our statement on the passing of Senator John McCain: pic.twitter.com/3GBjNYxoj5
Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 26, 2018
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who spent years alongside McCain in the Senate, also issued a statement.
John McCain was many things a proud graduate of the Naval Academy, a Senate colleague, a political opponent.
Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2018
But, to me, more than anything, John was a friend. He will be missed dearly. pic.twitter.com/AS8YsMLw3d
McCain was edged out by George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, but became his party's White House candidate eight years later. After gambling on political neophyte Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, McCain lost in 2008 to Democrat Barack Obama, who became the first black U.S. president.
John McCain was a vocal critic of current US President Donald Trump.
He denounced Trump for among other things his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders the senator described as foreign "tyrants."
"Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity," McCain said of Trump in his memoir, "The Restless Wave," which was released in May.
McCain in July had castigated Trump for his summit with Putin, issuing a statement that called their joint news conference in Helsinki "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." He said Trump was "not only unable but unwilling to stand up to Putin."
Shortly after McCain's death was announced, Trump tweeted: My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain."
(With inputs from Reuters)