WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Sen. John McCain being diagnosed with a brain tumor (all times EDT):
4:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump has called Arizona Sen. John McCain to wish him well following McCain’s cancer diagnosis.
A White House official confirmed the conversation Thursday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity despite the president’s repeated criticism of unnamed sources.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Thursday at a White House briefing that the president wishes McCain a full and speedy recovery.
She says, “We know that he will bring that unflappable spirit to his latest challenge.”
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11:40 a.m.
Arizona Sen. John McCain says he’s grateful for the outpouring of support after his brain cancer diagnosis. He’s promising to be back soon.
In a tweet Thursday, McCain says: “I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support - unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I’ll be back soon, so stand-by!”
McCain’s office said late Wednesday that the 80-year-old senator had been diagnosed with cancer. Doctors in Arizona removed a blood clot above his left eye last Friday. Pathology tests revealed a brain tumor associated with the clot.
McCain has been recuperating at his home in Arizona.
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11:10 a.m.
Sen. John McCain’s best friend in the Senate says the brain cancer diagnosis was a shock, but that the 80-year-old lawmaker is focused now on getting better.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says “the-woe-is-me thing isn’t part” of McCain’s DNA. But Graham said Thursday he expects McCain to return to the Capitol only when he is “fit to fight.”
McCain has survived several near-death experiences, including being shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and surviving 5½ years as a prisoner of war.
Graham says, “One thing John has never been afraid of is death.”
Graham says he spoke to McCain Wednesday evening. The senator is recuperating at his home in Arizona.
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10:35 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says cancer-stricken Sen. John McCain “has never shied away from a fight” and will “confront this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his entire life.”
McConnell says he hopes McCain will be back in the Senate in the very near future. McCain is an Arizona Republican and 2008 GOP presidential nominee.
The Kentucky Republican says “we’re all in his corner, every one of us.”
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7:45 a.m.
The junior senator from Arizona says Sen. John McCain told him about his brain tumor only at the end of a telephone conversation, saying he was “feeling fine, but I might have some chemotherapy in my future.”
Sen. Jeff Flake says his colleague is “optimistic, obviously. He’s John McCain. That’s what we’d expect.”
The tumor was discovered when doctors removed a blood clot from above McCain’s left eye.
Speaking Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Flake said it is not yet clear when McCain might be able to return to the Senate.
Flake calls him an “elder statesman” and “a steady force, one who stands for the institution and bipartisanship,” adding that he cannot “overstate what an impact he has in the Senate.”
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3:50 a.m.
Arizona Sen. John McCain has been diagnosed with an aggressive type of brain tumor.
The 80-year-old Arizona lawmaker has glioblastoma, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. That’s where McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last Friday. He and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.
According to the American Brain Tumor Association, more than 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma. (GLEE’-oh-blas-TOH’-muh). The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.
The senator and chairman of the Armed Services Committee had been recovering at his Arizona home. His absence had forced Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay action on health care legislation.
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