John McCain Return Report May Be Premature

PHOENIX, AZ – A report that John McCain plans to return to the United States Senate on May 1, may be premature. McCain has been at his home outside Phoenix since December recuperating from treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer.

"Sen. McCain said to return to Washington to oversee defense authorization May 1," Bloomberg reporter Roxana Tiron said on Twitter, adding that she was told that by McCain's colleague, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK).

After that, Sen. Inhofe's office put out a statement saying that it was a misunderstanding.

"I’m chalking it up to a miscommunication in a hallway interview," Inhofe's communications director, Leacy Burke, told Patch. (Get Phoenix Patch's daily newsletter and real-time news alerts. Or, find your local Patch here and subscribe).

McCain's office has not put out any statements and has not returned messages seeking comment.

McCain is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Burke says that Inhofe had been merely stating that McCain has scheduled a hearing for May 7.

In January, Inhofe – who is the number two on the committee – told C-SPAN that while he was chairing hearings in McCain's absence, McCain was still "calling the shots."

"Yes, I'm chairing the meetings, but we're chairing the meetings consistent with what John feels we should be doing," Inhofe said. "In fact, actually deciding on what hearings we're having, that's a decision that's coming out of the chairman, which is John McCain.

"He's calling the shots and I'm showing up."

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Photo of McCain via Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images.