Meghan McCain says the military are 'fearful' to show her father's name because Trump 'keeps attacking him' following claims her dad's namesake warship was 'out of sight' during the president's visit to Japan

  • McCain slammed Trump on The View on Thursday after he said whoever had the name of the USS John S McCain covered up for his Japan trip was 'well-meaning' 
  • She said Trump was putting military personnel in 'horrific situations' because 'they're fearful' of losing their jobs if seen wearing a USS McCain hat 
  • McCain said she believed the incident was 'horrible' and 'bad for Americans'
  • Claimed Trump was 'obsessed' with her father because he was never 'going to be a great man' like the Vietnam war hero 
  • Trump has claimed that he was 'not informed about anything' to do with the ship  

Meghan McCain has once again slammed Donald Trump amid allegations the White House ordered the Navy to cover a military ship bearing her father's name. 

The View host claimed Trump has created an environment of fear in the military when it comes to John McCain, and said the president was obsessed with him. 

Her comments came shortly after Trump declared that whoever asked for the name of the USS John S McCain to be covered before his visit to sailors in Japan was 'well-meaning' and went on to add he 'wasn't a fan' of the late senator.

'The president's actions have consequences,' McCain said during Thursday's episode of The View. 

'When you are repeatedly attacking my father and war heroes, it creates a culture in the military where people are clearly fearful to show my father's name in one way or another.' 

Meghan McCain has once again slammed Donald Trump amid allegations the White House ordered the Navy to cover a military ship bearing her father's name

Meghan McCain has once again slammed Donald Trump amid allegations the White House ordered the Navy to cover a military ship bearing her father's name

The View host said Trump has created an environment of fear in the military when it comes to John McCain's name, and said the president was obsessed with him. Pictured is the USS John S McCain in Singapore in August

 The View host said Trump has created an environment of fear in the military when it comes to John McCain's name, and said the president was obsessed with him. Pictured is the USS John S McCain in Singapore in August 

'And I think that is what has started this chain of events. If you're afraid to have a USS McCain hat or show the banner of the war ship....you're putting people in the military in horrific situations because they're fearful of their jobs.' 

'God forbid, if you're a sailor on this ship, you think there's going to be some kind of retribution,' she added.  

McCain said that she believed the incident was 'horrible' and 'bad for Americans'. 

'I think we really have to look at the culture that's being put in place,' she said. 'I don't blame the people in the military, I have nothing but respect for people that serve.'  

The View host then touched on what she said was repeated criticism from the media about how often she speaks about her father and how she publicly grieves for him, before taking another swipe at Trump. 

'It's impossible to go through the grief process when my father, who has been dead for 10 months, is constantly in the news cycle because the president is so obsessed with the fact that he's never going to be a great man like he was,' she said. 

McCain said that she believed the incident was 'horrible' and 'bad for Americans' and said Trump was 'obsessed' with her late father

McCain said that she believed the incident was 'horrible' and 'bad for Americans' and said Trump was 'obsessed' with her late father 

The audience burst into applause at the latter remark. McCain then revealed it had been a 'bizarre way to grieve and say good-bye' to her father. 

'It's so omnipresent in politics, and no in a way like we're honoring him,' she added. 'But in a way that you're weaponizing his legacy in the way that you want.' 

'So I just want to say please have more compassion. This is very hard. I try and put on a game face every day and try to be as stoic as possible. But grief is tricky and I'm still sad.' 

'And I'm sorry if nine months isn't enough for me to move on. But when Trump is doing this, it makes it harder.' 

On Thursday Trump defended whoever ordered for the name of the USS John S McCain to be covered up.  

'Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn't like him. Okay? They were well-meaning, I will say,' the president said. 'They thought they were doing me a favor because they know I am not a fan of John McCain.' 

The president also repeated his claim that he knew nothing about the White House request to cover the ship's name ahead of his visit to the Yokosuka Naval Base for Memorial Day. 

'I don't know what happened. I wasn't involved. I would not have done that,' Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Thursday morning.

On Thursday Trump defended whoever ordered for the name of the USS John S McCain to be covered up, saying they were 'well meaning'

On Thursday Trump defended whoever ordered for the name of the USS John S McCain to be covered up, saying they were 'well meaning' 

Trump said he was angry when McCain voted no on a Republican bill to overturn President Obama's Affordable Care Act, a move that ended GOP efforts to kill Obamacare, but added that he would never give such an order.

'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,' he said. 'I wasn't a fan, but I would never do a thing like that.' 

In a second round of questions on the incident, Trump said they could probably find out who made the request of the Navy.

'I don't know who did it. We will probably be able to find out who did it,' he said. 

'I wasn't a fan of John McCain, I never will be, but I couldn't care less if there is a boat named after his father,' he added.

The ship is actually named after three McCains who served in the Navy: the late senator, as well as his grandfather, John S McCain Sr, an admiral during World War II, and his father, John S McCain Jr, an admiral in the Vietnam era.

The president tweeted on Wednesday: 'I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan'

The president tweeted on Wednesday: 'I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan'

Navy officials said the tarps covering the name of the ship were removed before the president arrived at the Yokosuka Naval Base.

'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,' Rear Admiral Charlie Brown, the Chief of Naval Information, wrote on Twitter Wednesday night.

Images appear to to show tarp covering the ship named after the war hero, pictured in uniform in 1964, as a 2017 collision had made it difficult to move

Images appear to to show tarp covering the ship named after the war hero, pictured in uniform in 1964, as a 2017 collision had made it difficult to move

 Navy Commander Clay Doss, a spokesperson for the US Seventh Fleet, said 'all ships remained in normal configuration during POTUS' visit.'

The Navy said a photo of a tarp covering the ship's name was taken last Friday but the tarp was removed on Saturday, before the president arrived.

Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he didn't authorize the covering of the ship.

'I never authorized... any action around the movement or activity regarding that ship,' he told reporters traveling with him in Jakarta. 'I would never dishonor the memory of a great American patriot like Senator McCain. I would never disrespect the young men and women that crew that ship.' 

Shanahan said he has asked his chief of staff to investigate the incident.

The White House is dealing with the fallout from a Wall Street Journal report that officials asked the Navy to cover the ship's moniker ahead of Trump's visit.

The talk about the cover-up is said to have happened between lower level staffers.

Senior Navy officials insist they put the kibosh on the plan once they heard about it.

Before speaking about the incident on The View, McCain tweeted that Trump was a 'child' who would not let her father rest in peace 

'There were emails between lower-level officers, but once leadership heard about it, they said knock it off,' a senior Navy official told CNN.

But service members told The New York Times that sailors from the USS McCain were not invited to hear Trump speak during his visit.

And when several of them showed up anyway, wearing their USS McCain insignia, they were turned away, a service member told The Times.

Trump said the sailors who were turned away were not owed an apology.

'No not at all. We had a tremendous group of sailors from various ships. It was a beautiful day, but the McCain thing I knew nothing about,' he said on Thursday. 

Before speaking about the incident on The View, McCain tweeted that Trump was a 'child' who would not let her father rest in peace.   

'Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life,' she wrote. '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.'   

President Trump greets troops after speaking at a Memorial Day event aboard the USS Wasp

President Trump greets troops after speaking at a Memorial Day event aboard the USS Wasp

Trump and First Lady Melania arrived at the Japanese destroyer JS Kaga, in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Tuesday

Trump and First Lady Melania arrived at the Japanese destroyer JS Kaga, in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Tuesday

Trump had a rocky relationship with McCain, who died last year. 

In March the president called him 'horrible' after the late senator's two daughters begged for the president to leave their father and family alone. 

'I'm not a fan. He was horrible what he did with repeal and replace. What he did to the Republican Party and to the nation, and to sick people that could have had great health care was not good. So I'm not a fan of John McCain and that's fine,' Trump told Fox Business Network.

Why was the USS John S. McCain in Japan?

The USS John S. McCain was involved in a collision with an oil tanker in 2017 which left ten sailors dead. 

The vessels smashed into each other in the predawn hours of August 21, 2017 in the busy shipping lanes around the Strait of Malacca. There were no casualties among the tanker's crew.

The collision caused the tanker to rip through the ship's hull, creating a gash that flooded crew berths and machinery and communications rooms. 

It is currently stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Tokyo undergoing repairs. 

The fallen men ranged in age from 22-39, and hailed from eight US states - Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas. 

Trump has railed repeatedly against his late nemesis, even forcing McCain's youngest daughter Bridget, 27, to make a rare public statement in defense of her late father in March. 

She slammed Trump, calling him a 'child' and saying he wasn't invited to the senator's funeral because 'you could not be counted on to be courteous.'

Trump had complained during a visit to a manufacturing plant in Ohio that he didn't get thanked for giving McCain, who was held captive for five and a half years in a Hanoi POW camp during the war, 'the kind of funeral that he wanted'.  

'I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this, I didn't get a thank you. That's okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain,' Trump said. 

The president was criticized after McCain's death for not keeping the flag flying at the White House at half-staff. It was eventually lowered and stayed that way until McCain was buried.

He was not invited to the funeral at the late senator's request. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush gave the eulogies. A slew of political VIPs - including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, and Mitt Romney - were also in attendance. 

McCain's feud with President Trump dates back to the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump criticized him for being taken prisoner in Vietnam.

'He's not a war hero,' Trump said in July 2015, sarcastically quipping: "He's a war hero because he was captured.'"  

'I like people that weren't captured,' he added.  

Trump versus McCain - how the disputes developed

 Trump has had few good words to say about John McCain and the feud stretches back to at least 2015. Here is a potted history.

Trump
McCain

Trump and McCain feuded for years, and the enmity continued beyond the grave

June 30, 2015: 'I just disagree with his comments about the, quote, Mexicans,' McCain said about the campaign speech in which Trump suggested Mexican immigrants bring 'drugs' and 'crime' into the U.S. and that some of them are 'rapists.'

July 16, 2015: Trump calls McCain 'weak' during rally in Arizona. McCain hit back telling the New Yorker that Trump 'fired up the crazies' before Trump said 'The thousands of people that showed up for me in Phoenix were amazing Americans. @SenJohnMcCain called them 'crazies'--must apologize!'. He then added that McCain graduated last in his class in Annapolis and said he was a 'dummy'.

July 18, 2015: Trump said of McCain's time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. 'He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.'

December 22, 2015: McCain says he is 'concerned' over Trump's praise of Russian president Vladimir Putin. 'The thing that is so concerning about Mr. Trump's compliments of Vladimir Putin is Vladimir Putin has slaughtered his own, murdered his own people, including people I knew. He has, his equipment has shot down an airliner and killed a couple hundred people.'

April 19, 2016: McCain announced he would not attend the Republican primary where Trump was due to be officially named the party's presidential nominee.

August 1, 2016: McCain criticised Trump who had criticized the Gold Star parents of a fallen U.S army captain. He said: 'In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.'

October 8, 2016: Footage emerged showing Trump making misogynistic comments in 2005. McCain, and wife Cindy, said in a statement: 'Donald Trump's behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy 

December 29, 2016: McCain associate David Kramer, an executive at the McCain Institute, met with BuzzFeed reporter Ken Bensinger and passed off British ex-spy Christopher Steele's 'dirty dossier'. Buzzfeed published the dossier two weeks later. 

July 25, 2017: McCain rushed back to the Senate less than two weeks after brain surgery to vote 'no' on repealing the Affordable Care Act, which both he and Trump had campaigned on repealing. 

April 17, 2018: McCain released memoir 'The Restless Wave' in which he made unflinching criticisms of Trump, Russia and his feelings of unease around the president. 

June 20, 2018: Trump publicly blamed McCain for the Republican's failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017. McCain's daughter Meghan branded the move as 'gross'.

September 1, 2018: McCain's funeral is held at the Washington National Cathedral. He made explicit his wish that Trump not attend.

February 7, 2019:  McCain's daughter Meghan McCain appears on the Late Show and criticizes Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for attending her father's funeral. She said she would never squash her 'beef' with the Trump family. 

March 2019: Trump continues to attack McCain. The president called him 'horrible' after the late senator's two daughters begged for the president to leave their dad and family alone. 

May 2019: It is claimed Trump wanted the USS John McCain 'out of sight' during his visit to Japan

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Meghan McCain says military is 'fearful' to show father's name because of Trump attacks

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