President Trump denied Wednesday he had anything to do with the USS John McCain’s name being hidden during the president’s Japan trip.
“I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan,” he tweeted, referring to a Wall Street Journal report that the White House had asked the military to move the warship named for the late Sen. John McCain out of sight ahead of Trump’s trip.
[Related: Trump: ‘I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be’]
I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan. Nevertheless, @FLOTUS and I loved being with our great Military Men and Women – what a spectacular job they do!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
A senior White House official told the Washington Post on Wednesday that they didn’t want the destroyer’s name in photographs to avoid upsetting Trump during the visit, but the president was not involved in having its name covered.
The initial report detailed photos showing a tarp covered its name, and sailors, whose caps show the ship’s name, were given the day off during the president’s visit to Yokosuka Naval Base. A spokesperson for U.S. Pacific Fleet later told NBC News the tarp photo is from Friday and the covering was taken down on Saturday, before Trump arrived.
Trump spoke to troops aboard the USS Wasp on Tuesday.
The Navy hit back at accusations the ship’s name had been hidden. “The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage,” the branch tweeted.
The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.
— Navy Chief of Information (@chinfo) May 30, 2019
The ship is named for McCain, his father, and his grandfather, both former Navy admirals and all three of whom share the name John S. McCain. It was rededicated in 2018 before the senator’s death from a form of brain cancer.
Trump has frequently taken aim at the late senator, criticizing the Navy hero and prisoner of war in Vietnam both before and after McCain’s death. McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain, a frequent critic of the president’s, torched Trump on Twitter as “a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life.”
Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life. There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won’t let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him.
It makes my grief unbearable. https://t.co/gUbFAla1VE
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 30, 2019
