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Old 06-02-2019, 07:45 AM
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Arrow Navy Confirms White House Request To ‘Hide’ USS John McCain

Navy Confirms White House Request To ‘Hide’ USS John McCain
By: Doug Mataconis - Outside the Beltway - 6-2-19
RE: https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/na...way+%7C+OTB%29

Photo Image: https://otb.cachefly.net/wp-content/...ohn-McCain.png

Several days after the initial report in The Wall Street Journal that still unnamed White House officials had asked the United States Navy to hide the USS John McCain from view during President’s visit to an American base in Japan, the Navy has finally acknowledged that it did receive the request:

The U.S. Navy confirmed Saturday that a “request was made” to “minimize the visibility” of the USS John S. McCain during President Donald Trump’s state visit to Japan.

“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,” the statement said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that the White House wanted to move the destroyer — named partly for the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — “out of sight” ahead of Trump’s trip to Tokyo earlier this month.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that he “was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan,” and told reporters at the White House on Thursday that whoever was responsible for the request was “well-meaning.”

(…)

“The Navy is fully cooperating with the review of this matter tasked by the Secretary of Defense,” Brown said in his statement Saturday. “Our forward-deployed Naval forces continue to stand ready to execute their assigned missions.”

Despite the Navy’s denial, it has been reported by several media outlets that unidentified sailors from the USS McCain have verified that they were turned away from the President’s event where he spoke to sailors at the base. It’s not clear, though, if they were turned away by Navy officials or by White House advance people who were controlling access to the event. Although it seems more likely that, if it happened, it was done by people affiliated with the White House. This is especially true given both the manner in which Navy officials have reacted to these reporters and the comments of Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who was recently nominated to be Secretary of Defense, that he would not have authorized compliance with the request had he known about it.

This is hardly the biggest news out there, of course, nor is it the most egregious thing that this Administration has done. It’s an issue because this is just another example of the contempt that this Administration has shown for McCain even after his death. It started of course, with the President’s comment in the early weeks of his campaign for President that he “likes heroes who weren’t captured,” a clear rebuke of the five years that McCain’s five years as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam despite the fact that he could have been released much earlier due to the fact that his father was the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time. This contempt was also shared by White House aides, including one who made a widely reported joke about McCain dying back in 2018. While Trump thankfully stayed away from McCain’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral, he has continued to attack McCain even after his death. Given all of that, it’s not surprising that his aides would request the Navy to block out reminders of the late Senator during the President’s visit. At the very least it’s a sign of just what kind of people Trump hires, and the kind of White House he runs, and none of it bodes well.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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Old 06-02-2019, 07:49 AM
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Default Shanahan: USS John McCain request made directly to Seventh Fleet

Shanahan: USS John McCain request made directly to Seventh Fleet
By: Barbara Star & Devan Cole - CNN Politics 6-2-19
RE: https://us.cnn.com/2019/06/02/politi...han/index.html

Washington (CNN)The White House Military Office coordinated directly with the Navy's Seventh Fleet to have the USS John S. McCain hidden from view during President Donald Trump's visit to Japan, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters Sunday, though that request was ultimately not carried out.

The US Navy had previously told CNN the request had been made to lower-level US Navy officials, but it was not known who specifically received the directive about keeping a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain's father and grandfather out of sight to avoid possibly upsetting the President. Trump told reporters Thursday that while he had no knowledge of the plan nor would he have acted on it, he "is not a big fan" of the Arizona senator, and whoever was behind the plan was "well-meaning."

Trump and McCain, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, were frequently at odds before and during Trump's presidency. In 2015, Trump attacked McCain -- who had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam -- as "not a war hero" and again criticized the senator from Arizona after he died of brain cancer last August.

The barbs against McCain from the President did not stop after his death. Seven months after McCain passed away, Trump mocked him on Twitter inaccurately for coming "last in his class," and rebuked McCain for voting against a GOP bid to repeal Obamacare. "I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be," Trump said at the time.

McCain's daughter Meghan McCain, reacting on Twitter Wednesday to the initial Wall Street Journal report, called Trump "a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life."

Shanahan, while on his way to South Korea, also told reporters Sunday that he had spoken over the phone with McCain's widow, Cindy McCain, but declined to divulge any details. Shanahan said it was a private conversation, however, that he has not spoken to the President about the matter and that he will be having further conversations with officials about the request when he returns to Washington.

On Friday, Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, acknowledged in a statement that a request had been made "to minimize the visibility" of the ship, but noted that "all ships remained in their normal configuration" during Trump's visit.
Shanahan on Sunday also pushed back on a report from The Wall Street Journal that said a tarp was put in place to cover the ship's name since it could not be moved due to repairs, saying the tarp was for "hull preservation and not to obscure the name" so it was removed.
CNN has previously reported that Navy sources provided a similar explanation for the tarp. The tarp came down on the Friday before the President's Monday arrival to speak on a nearby ship in Yokosuka, Japan.

While some sailors had told various outlets they were barred from attending the President's speech, Shanahan said that McCain's crew was not singled out for exclusion or given leave specifically to keep them away. The McCain crew was given a 96-hour Memorial Day weekend leave that Shanahan said was unrelated to the President's visit.

CNN previously reported that the USS McCain and other ships had been given shore leave.
Responding to a question from a reporter, Shanahan said Sunday that "there's no room for politicizing the military" -- a point he also made on Friday when asked about the controversy.

Shanahan has said that he asked his chief-of-staff to look into how the request was made to the Navy, but that he is not asking for an independent audit from the Inspector General. He said more information would be revealed once details were gathered about how the request to the Navy was made.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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