Cindy McCain blasted after mistakenly trying to bust woman for human trafficking

The widow of the late Arizona senator wound up apologizing for pointing out someone she thought was kidnapping a child, but was doing nothing of the kind

Kia Morgan-Smith

Feb 7, 2019

Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain is apologizing for calling the cops on a woman whose baby was a different ethnicity, assuming that she was engaged in a human trafficking scheme.

McCain called Phoenix police on the unassuming traveler with a toddler in tow at the Sky Harbor International Airport last Thursday, and told a local radio station in Phoenix about the ordeal which didn’t go over well for her and erupted in criticism on social media for her tone deaf approach, The Daily Mail reported.

“‘I came in from a trip I’d been on and I spotted – it looked odd – it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had, and something didn’t click with me,” McCain told KTAR News 92.3FM on Monday.

“I tell people ‘Trust your gut,’” she boasted in the interview. “I went over to the police and told them what I saw and they went over and questioned her and, by God, she was trafficking that kid.

“She was waiting for the guy who bought the child to get off the airplane.”

However, McCain’s claim that the child was being trafficked by that woman wasn’t true, according to Phoenix law enforcement officials.

On Wednesday, Phoenix police said that a welfare check on the child took place because of McCain’s request, but that no criminal behavior or child endangerment was suspected, KPNX-TV reported.

Twitter users tore into the widow.

"Cindy McCain" The human trafficking becky pic.twitter.com/3SE97HQIDs

— Queen Gee (@GeeBacktoBlack) February 7, 2019

Cindy McCain: I pretty much saved a child from trafficking

Police: pic.twitter.com/zjRQBZLWav

— Big Girl Slay 💋 (@Biggirlslay) February 7, 2019

You spelled “I’m a big fat liar” wrong.

— Rummy (@DesertFoxATX) February 7, 2019

After the kerfuffle, McCain, who herself has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, took to Twitter to apologize.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor, I reported an incident that I thought was trafficking. I commend the police officers for their diligence. I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter distracts from “if you see something, say something”

— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) February 7, 2019

But that didn’t stop people from shading her over not realizing that families can come in more than one complexion.

That’s a weird way to say “My ignorant racial profiling led to the harassment of an innocent family and then I lied about it.”

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 7, 2019

And she got punched in the face for it.

— Craig Sarvis (@CraigSarvis) February 7, 2019

A few questions:

Is your idea of “trafficking” a woman in custody of a child of a different ethnicity? To be clear: THAT LITERALLY DESCRIBES YOUR FAMILY!

Why did you lie in an interview that you stopped trafficking?

Why aren’t you apologizing to those you wrongly accused?

— Pé Resists (@4everNeverTrump) February 7, 2019

McCain is co-chair of the Arizona Human Trafficking Council and is also on the advisory council of the McCain Institiute, founded by her late husband who died last August, which fights against human trafficking. In 2014, she testified in Congress about the proliferation of sex trafficking.

“I am encouraged by the increased attention to human trafficking solutions that I am seeing in Arizona, across the nation and internationally,” McCain said during the hearing, according to USA Today. “I am encouraged, but there is a great deal to be done and it’s going to take all of us working together to raise awareness and fight to end this modern-day slavery.”

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