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In late February 2017, a host of questionable web sites began reporting the document-dumping web site WikiLeaks had revealed the breaking news that Arizona Sen. John McCain had once solicited a campaign contribution from the Russian government: The document shared by WikiLeaks was a purported letter from the Russian ambassador to the United Nations claiming to have received a solicitation for a campaign contribution from the Arizona Republican in 2008, when McCain was running for President against President Barack Obama: Despite the document's being characterized by various blogs as breaking or a bombshell, it had been released by WikiLeaks back in October 2008, described as a public document released for possible political motives: It is unlawful for foreign entities to contribute to U.S. elections and for Americans to knowingly facilitate such contributions. (Not to mention that it would be incredibly foolish for a U.S. official to solicit illegal foreign donations in such an openly traceable manner.) In a 2008 report published by the Associated Press, McCain's campaign manager Brian Rogers said the solicitation was sent to Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin by accident. Churkin (who passed away on 20 February 2017) told reporters that the letter was not addressed to him using his official title, leading him to believe it was sent to him unintentionally: The discussion regarding the now years-old story seems to have been kicked up anew by a tweet sent from the official WikiLeaks Twitter account on 23 February 2017: We reached out to WikiLeaks for comment on why they shared the old link but received no response, while Fox News pundit Sean Hannity apologized to McCain over Twitter for sharing a story on the subject posted by disreputable web site TheGateWayPundit.com: Hannity's apology came after McCain's spokeswoman, Julie Tarallo, criticized him for sharing fake news.
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