Navy Acknowledges Receiving Request to ‘Minimize the Visibility’ of USS John S. McCain During Trump Visit
The U.S. Navy acknowledged in a statement Friday that a request was made to “minimize the visibility” of the USS John S. McCain during President Donald Trump‘s Japan trip.
The request from the White House, reported on earlier this week, was apparently made without President Donald Trump‘s knowledge.
The president, of course, has continued taking shots at the late senator John McCain, and Meghan McCain tweeted after the news came out that Trump “is a child”:
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
The reporting on the White House request also revealed that Navy sailors on the McCain “were not invited to hear Mr. Trump speak that day” while sailors from other warships were, and that when some “showed up anyway, wearing their uniforms with the ship’s insignia, they were turned away.”
On Friday, per multiple reports, the Navy issued a statement confirming the request, but denying sailors were “explicitly excluded”:
“A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President’s visit,” Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, said in a statement. “There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain.”
Brown added that the Navy is “fully cooperating with the review of this matter tasked by” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.
[U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matthew R. White/Released]
