UPDATE: Former US presidential candidate John McCain dies at 81

Former US presidential candidate John McCain has died at the age of 81.

McCain, is a Vietnam war hero turned senator.

Presidents and lawmakers from both parties are honoring McCain's decades of service to his country in the hours after his death Saturday.

President Donald Trump, who criticized McCain for being taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, says his "deepest sympathies and respect" went out to McCain's family.

McCain died at his ranch in Arizona after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

On Saturday night, a black hearse accompanied by a police motorcade could be seen driving away from the ranch near Sedona where he spent his final weeks.

Trump's brief Twitter statement said "hearts and prayers" are with the McCain family.

Melania Trump thanked McCain for his service to the nation, which included more than five years as a prisoner of war and six terms in the Senate.

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