The White House told the U. S. Navy to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain, with whom Trump long feuded, out of Trump’s sight during his trip to Japan, three U. S. officials said.
The White House told the U. S. Navy to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain, with whom Trump long feuded, out of Trump’s sight during his trip to Japan, three U. S. officials said.
A Republican, McCain nevertheless broke with the president in key areas. He incensed Trump with his thumbs-down vote foiling the effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. Trump also mocked McCain’s military service, which included years of imprisonment and torture during the Vietnam War.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a U. S. Indo-Pacific Command official wrote an email to Navy and Air Force officials about Trump’s arrival in Japan over Memorial Day weekend. It included instructions for preparations for the USS Wasp, the ship on which Trump was to speak.
“USS John McCain needs to be out of sight,” according to the email, obtained by the Journal and whose existence was confirmed to The Associated Press by three U. S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private email correspondence.
When a Navy commander expressed surprise at the instruction, the U. S. Indo-Pacific Command official answered, “First I heard of it as well,” the Journal reported. The official said he would talk to the White House Military Office to get more information about the directive, the newspaper reported.
Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted that he “was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan.”
Trump notably didn’t say that he was not informed about the ship before his visit to Japan.
