President Joe Biden posthumously awards the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Sen. John McCain of Arizona as his wife Cindy McCain accepts the award during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
OAN NEWSROOM
UPDATED 6:20 PM PT – Saturday, July 9, 2022
President Joe Biden told tall tales about his service in the Senate. This time he spoke about his relationship with the late Arizona Republican John McCain.
At a recent Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony McCain was posthumously honored. Biden claimed he is the reason McCain ran against Barack Obama and himself for the presidency. He also said he hated running against McCain and claimed he never said a bad word about the Arizonian.
“I will admit to my Democratic friends I’m the guy who encouraged John to go home and run for office,” Biden stated. “For real, because I knew what incredible courage, intellect and conscience he had.”
I am very pleased to see President Biden is honoring my dear friend John McCain with the Medal of Freedom.
John dedicated his life to fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights. There is no more deserving recipient of this honor.
Congratulations to the McCain clan.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 1, 2022
The ceremony also honored 16 other new recipients, including champion gymnast Simone Biles and soccer star Megan Rapinoe. McCain’s award was presented to his widow Cindy McCain who currently serves as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Rome.
“We ran against each other, which I didn’t like, on tickets for the highest office in the land,” he said. “I was a candidate for vice president, he was the candidate for president. I never stopped admiring John. Never said a negative thing about him in my life because I knew his honor, his courage, and his commitment.”
However, Biden allegedly called McCain’ a “angry man” who wanted to “take the low road to the highest office in the land” on the 2008 campaign trail.