Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday said an administration staffer was responsible for the request to hide the USS John McCain warship during President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan — and sees nothing wrong with it.
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Mulvaney said the advance team member’s request to get the ship out of Trump’s sight, given his animosity toward the late senator from Arizona and former GOP presidential nominee, was “not an unreasonable thing to ask.”
“The fact that some 23-year-old, 24-year-old person on the advance team went to that site and said ‘Oh my goodness there’s the John McCain, we all know how the president feels, let’s move it’ … that’s not an unreasonable thing to ask,” Mulvaney insisted.
He said the advance team member won’t be fired over the matter either, comparing it to a trivial disagreement between two people at an office staff meeting.
“If you’re going to a staff meeting and [someone says] ‘look [Meet The Press moderator] Chuck [Todd] is fighting with so-and-so, let’s now sit them together,’ is that a fireable offense at NBC?” he asked.
“This is just outrageous,” he said of the whole discussion.
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