TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
President Donald Trump said Thursday that “well-meaning” aides tried to shield him from view of a warship named for John McCain. Also: McSally says the incident should be investigated,
Sen. Martha McSally said an investigation is warranted to get to the bottom of an order to keep the warship named for the late Sen. John McCain, his father and his grandfather out of President Donald Trump’s view during his trip to Japan earlier this month.
McSally, R-Ariz., now holds the seat McCain once held before his death and sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which McCain chaired before his death in August 2018.
“I am appalled to hear of the allegations surrounding the USS John S. McCain,” McSally said in a written statement. “There needs to be a full investigation into who ordered it and what occurred.”
The late senator’s legacy should be honored and respected, McSally said.
The reported Wednesday that a military official asked the USS John S. McCain, based at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan, be “out of sight” during the president’s trip to the island. The story provoked another round of criticism by Trump about McCain, who was unsparing in his criticism of Trump’s style of politics and policies.
Trump said Thursday that aides “thought they were doing me a favor because they know I am not a fan of John McCain.”
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said has asked his chief of staff to probe reports of wanting to hide the warship. Communications tied to the matter and obtained by
show that on May 15, an official emailed other officers a to-do list in anticipation of Trump’s trip.
The third bullet point on the email said, “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.” Earlier in the email, he wrote, “Also, please confirm #3 will be satisfied.”
A Navy officer later responded: “This is the first I have seen about the McCain being out of sight.”
The first officer wrote back, “Copy on the McCain — first I heard of it as well.” He wrote he would work with the White House “to get more info on it, and if that’s an official tasking I’ll include it in the” fragmentary order. He continued, “Are you able to get info to discuss ramifications if she needs to be moved?”
A spokeswoman for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said : “Kyrsten believes this is disgusting and shameful.”
On Wednesday, Sinema invoked McCain’s leadership in remarks to the Washington, D.C.-based Global Leadership Coalition, saying: “He spoke of America’s purpose — and of a world made safer for America’s interests throughout the last century, not just through our military, but through our alliances, our generosity, our skills, and our values. So as we continue the vital work of strengthening America’s leadership in the world, let’s be guided by those same ideals.”
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a Marine Corps veteran who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson demanding answers.
“As a fellow Arizonan and in the long tradition of U.S. Marines serving with Sailors, I am furious that the Navy would allow the service of the McCains to be diminished in this way,” he wrote in a statement Thursday. “And as a member of the Armed Services Committee, I am concerned about how prioritizing the emotional instability of the president over the morale of the USS John S. McCain’s crew will affect readiness.”
McCain, 81, was a prisoner of war for more than five years after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam.
About a month before his death, his name was added to the the U.S. guidedmissile destroyer, which already bore the names of his father, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., who served as a former commander, U.S. Pacific Command, and his grandfather, Adm. John S. “Slew” McCain.