The Pentagon took the White House to task for trying to hide destroyer USS John S. McCain during Trump's visit

• The Pentagon warned the White House against politicizing the military after White House officials asked the Navy to hide the destroyer USS John S. McCain to keep the president, whose disdain for the late Sen. John McCain is well known, from getting upset.
• The White House, however, has played this off as no big deal, with Trump calling the White House personnel involved "well meaning" and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney arguing that the request was "not an unreasonable thing."
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The Pentagon rebuked the White House this weekend over a request that a destroyer named after the late Senator John McCain, as well as his father and grandfather, be hidden from view to avoid upsetting President Trump during a recent visit to a US naval base in Japan.

Prior to Trump's visit to Fleet Activities Yokosuka for Memorial Day, the White House Military Office contacted US 7th Fleet to request that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain be "out of sight" during the visit. The Navy ultimately did not comply with the request.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan "directed his chief of staff to speak with the White House military office and reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized," Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters.

"The chief of staff reported that he did reinforce this message," he added.

Shanahan, who has been tapped to become the new defense secretary, emphasized that there "is no room for politicizing the military" in his talks with reporters. The Department of Defense has said that Shanahan was not aware of the initial White House request.

Trump tweeted last week that he "was not informed about anything having to do with the" McCain, a point he reiterated in talks with reporters. He insisted that he would never do something like that, adding that he "couldn't care less."

Rather than condemn the request to hide the McCain, he characterized the actions of the White House personnel involved in the incident as "well meaning," explaining, "They thought they were doing me a favor because I'm not a fan of John McCain."

White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also defended those involved, arguing that the White House did nothing wrong.

"The fact that some 23, 24-year-old person on the advance team went to that site and said, 'Oh my goodness, here's the John McCain, we all know how the president feels about the former senator, maybe that's not the best backdrop, can somebody look into moving it', that's not an unreasonable thing," Mulvaney said on NBC News' Meet the Press.

Mulvaney added that no one is getting fired over this. "That you think that somebody is going to get fired over this is silly," he added.