Pentagon Is Reviewing USS John McCain Incident, Shanahan Says

(Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon is reviewing reports that the White House asked the U.S. Navy to move the warship USS John S. McCain out of view before President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Japan, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Friday.

Shanahan told reporters in Singapore that he’s asked his agency’s chief of staff to look into the matter, adding that he is waiting get the full explanation of facts before passing judgment. He said he will probably provide an update on Saturday.

Trump said on Thursday that a “well-meaning” person appears to have made the request, but said he personally would not have done so. The ship carries the name of the late Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona who was critical of Trump at the time of his death last year, as well as his father and grandfather.

A U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official, in an email May 15 to U.S. Navy and Air Force officials, laid out proposals for Trump’s arrival that he said had resulted from talks between the White House Military Office and the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. That included the directive: “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight,” according to the Journal. “Please confirm #3 will be satisfied,” the newspaper cited the official as writing.

“I wasn’t a fan but I would never do a thing like that," Trump told reporters Thursday. “Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, OK? And they were well meaning, I will say.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Singapore at gcarey8@bloomberg.net;Terrence Dopp in Washington at tdopp@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Derek Wallbank

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