US senators ponder future without McCain!

• Each is eager for McCain to come back, but privately some concede it may not happen.

John McCain has been home in Arizona fighting brain cancer for months, and while the US Senate awaits his possible comeback, many colleagues have begun facing the prospect that the political titan might never return to Washington.In quiet conversations in the Capitol, more than a dozen senators - several of them McCain's friends for a quarter-century or more - acknowledged they are struggling to adjust to a Senate without the larger-than-life lawmaker in their midst.

Each is eager for McCain to come back, but privately some concede it may not happen. The occasionally irascible national security hawk and 2008 Republican presidential nominee has not appeared in Congress this year.

"I miss him all the time," Senate Democrat Michael Bennet told AFP, noting that McCain has routinely gone "out of his way" to work with Democrats.

McCain, a 81-year-old six-term senator, was diagnosed last year with glioblastoma, the same aggressive form of brain cancer that took the life of another Senate giant, Ted Kennedy, in 2009.

McCain's future may have a pronounced impact on Republican efforts to maintain their narrow Senate majority. Should he retire or die this month, it would likely trigger a special election for his replacement in November, during a year of sweeping Democratic enthusiasm.

Lawmakers have avoided directly broaching such taboo subjects.

"He ain't gone," Republican Senator Roger Wicker said, adding that McCain remains "very much still a presence" in the chamber, conducting conference calls with staff and maintaining his Armed Services Committee chairmanship.

But his absence was palpable Wednesday when the Senate Intelligence Committee grilled CIA nominee Gina Haspel over her role in the post-9/11 enhanced interrogation program set up under George W. Bush.

"It's hard to have a meaningful debate about a big issue like torture without John McCain," said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, noting McCain's brutal treatment during his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
White House official mocked 'dying' senator

A White House official mocked Senator John McCain's brain cancer at an internal meeting on Thursday, saying his opposition to President Donald Trump's CIA nominee "doesn't matter, he's dying anyway," according to media reports.

Kelly Sadler, a special assistant in the White House communications office, made the comments at a closed-door meeting attended by two dozen staffers.

McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, responded in a tweet. "May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren," she said.