President Trump said he had no knowledge of the White House’s request to move the warship USS John S. McCain “out of sight” ahead of his recent visit to Japan.
Trump denied having any knowledge of the order prior to a Wall Street Journal story published on Wednesday. The story revealed that a White House official told U.S. Navy and Air Force officials through an email that the “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.”
“I don’t know what happened. I was not involved. I would not have done that,” Trump told reporters while on the White House’s South Lawn on Thursday.
Trump acknowledged that he and the warship’s namesake, the late Sen. John McCain who passed away in August 2018, had a contentious relationship. The warship was originally named after McCain’s father, former U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm. John S. McCain, Jr., and McCain’s grandfather, Adm. John S. McCain, a carrier task force commander in World War II. Sen. McCain’s name was added to the namesake in July 2018.
“I was very angry with John McCain because he killed healthcare. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said. “To me, John McCain, I wasn’t a fan, but I would never do a thing like that. Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, okay. And they were well-meaning, I would say. I didn’t know anything about it. I would never have done that.”
[Related: ‘Trump won’t let him RIP’: Meghan McCain responds to McCain ship controversy]
