http://www.washdiplomat.com/PouchArticle/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=668
On May 15, the International Republican Institute (IRI) held its annual Freedom Dinner at the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel to honor IRI’s role in advancing freedom around the world for the past 35 years.
This year, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley were given the Freedom Award, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) offering tributes.
But the unspoken star of the night was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his longstanding efforts to propel democratization around the world. McCain, who is a 2017 IRI awardee, could not attend this year because he is undergoing brain cancer treatment. But his son, Jimmy McCain, spoke in place of his father, who watched the dinner live from his home in Arizona.