John McCain

==== Keating Five ====
{{main|Keating Five}}
McCain became embroiled in [[US House and Senate career of John McCain (until 2000)#Keating Five scandal|a scandal]] during the 1980s, as one of five United States senators comprising the so-called [[Keating Five]].<ref name="NYTKeating">Abramson, Jill; Mitchell, Alison. [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/21/us/senate-inquiry-in-keating-case-tested-mccain.html "Senate Inquiry In Keating Case Tested McCain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826210324/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/21/us/senate-inquiry-in-keating-case-tested-mccain.html |date=August 26, 2018 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' (November 21, 1999). Retrieved May 10, 2008.</ref> Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in lawful<ref name="nyt-sen-eth" /> political contributions from Charles Keating Jr. and his associates at [[Lincoln Savings and Loan Association]], along with trips on Keating's jets<ref name="NYTKeating" /> that McCain belatedly repaid, in 1989.<ref>Rasky, Susan. [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/22/us/washington-talk-senator-mccain-savings-loan-affair-now-personal-demon.html "To Senator McCain, the Savings and Loan Affair Is Now a Personal Demon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827044042/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/22/us/washington-talk-senator-mccain-savings-loan-affair-now-personal-demon.html |date=August 27, 2018 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' (December 22, 1989). Retrieved April 19, 2008.</ref> In 1987, McCain was one of the five senators whom Keating contacted to prevent the government's seizure of Lincoln, and McCain met twice with federal regulators to discuss the government's investigation of Lincoln.<ref name="NYTKeating" /> In 1999, McCain said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."<ref name="az-keating" /> In the end, McCain was cleared by the [[Senate Ethics Committee]] of acting improperly or violating any law or Senate rule, but was mildly rebuked for exercising "poor judgment".<ref name="nyt-sen-eth">[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/28/us/excerpts-of-statement-by-senate-ethics-panel.html "Excerpts of Statement By Senate Ethics Panel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827044059/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/28/us/excerpts-of-statement-by-senate-ethics-panel.html |date=August 27, 2018 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' (February 28, 1991). Retrieved April 19, 2008.</ref><ref name="az-keating">Nowicki, Dan and Muller, Bill. [https://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter7.html "John McCain Report: The Keating Five"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011225847/http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter7.html |date=October 11, 2014 }}, ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'' (March 1, 2007). Retrieval date November 23, 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite news | publisher = govtrack.us | title = Sen. John McCain, Former Senator for Arizona | url = https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_mccain/300071 | access-date = June 10, 2020 | archive-date = November 23, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211123235343/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_mccain/300071 | url-status = live }}</ref>

In his 1992 re-election bid, the Keating Five affair was not a major issue,<ref name="az-rebound">Nowicki, Dan and Muller, Bill. [https://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter8.html "John McCain Report: Overcoming scandal, moving on"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414183720/http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter8.html |date=April 14, 2016 }}, ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'' (March 1, 2007). Retrieved November 23, 2007.</ref> and he won handily, gaining 56&nbsp;percent of the vote to defeat Democratic community and [[civil rights]] activist Claire Sargent and independent former governor, [[Evan Mecham]].<ref>Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 150–51</ref>

[[File:Bush Contact Sheet P16287 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|President [[George H. W. Bush]] meets with McCain, 1990]]