“I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as President I had to approve,” Trump said. “I don’t care about this. I didn’t get thank you. That’s OK. We sent him on the way, but I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.”<doc-sep>President Trump escalated his one-sided feud against the late Sen. John McCain this week, claiming in a Wednesday speech that nobody thanked him for the late senator's funeral. The president claimed that he, as president, "had to approve" that funeral. "I endorsed him at his request," Mr. Trump said of McCain. "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' and that's okay." But it's unclear what the president meant by that, as the late senator's funeral did not require his approval. McCain, a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, died in August 2018 after a battle with brain cancer. Mr. Trump did not attend McCain's funeral in Washington, D.C., where he was eulogized by former President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush. McCain's casket did travel on a plane generally reserved for vice presidents and VIPs that is under the president's control. And the president has jurisdiction over the arrival and departure at Joint Base Andrews, a military facility owned by the Air Force, where the plane landed and took off. But that's about where Mr. Trump's involvement ended. The National Cathedral, which held McCain's funeral service last year, said only state funerals for former presidents involve consultation with government officials, and no funeral requires the president's approval. "Washington National Cathedral was honored to host the funeral service for Senator John McCain," Kevin Eckstrom, chief communications officer of the Washington National Cathedral, said in a statement. "All funerals and memorial services at the Cathedral are organized by the family of the deceased; only a state funeral for a former president involves consultation with government officials. No funeral at the Cathedral requires the approval of the president or any other government official." While McCain's casket was traveling the streets of D.C., there were rolling road closures for the funeral procession, overseen by D.C. police and Capitol Hill Special Events police. U.S. Secret Service also had a role in the proceedings. McCain's family arranged a separate memorial service for the senator in Arizona. McCain also lay in state in the U.S. Capitol for three days. But that honor was announced by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in consultation with the two top Congressional Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Senator John McCain will lie in state in the Rotunda of the US Capitol. It’s hard to imagine a person more worthy of the honor, and I’m pleased that Americans will have the opportunity to pay their respects to this hero and statesman. — Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 26, 2018 Mr. Trump also took two days after McCain's death to order the lowering of the flags at the White House, doing so only after intense public criticism. — CBS News' Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump, speaking at a tank plant in Ohio, once again savaged the late Sen. John McCain today. “I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted — which, as President, I had to approve,” Trump said Wednesday, unprompted, as the crowd reacted with pin-drop silence. “I don’t care about this,” he insisted, then proved otherwise, complaining, “I didn’t get a thank you.” Just hours after daughter Meghan McCain addressed the president’s attacks on her late father for a second day running on The View, POTUS again blamed John McCain for the failed Obamacare repeal with the famous thumbs-down gesture during a 2 AM vote. He also blamed McCain for the dossier alleging ties between then-private-citizen Trump and Russia, continuing the grievance campaign against the war hero who succumbed to brain cancer seven months ago. “A lot of people are asking me, because they love me, about a man named John McCain,” the president claimed today. “I’ve never liked him much … probably never will.” Trump complained that McCain “didn’t call me” when he got the dossier, instead “he turned it over to the FBI,” which he insisted McCain did because he hoped to put Trump “in jeopardy.” Related Story 'The View' Calls On Melania 'Be Best' Trump To End Donald's Attacks On John McCain And Grieving Family “That’s not the nicest thing to do,” Trump said. POTUS opened his remarks telling the crowd they had to love him. “You’d better love me, I kept this place open,” Trump said. Hours earlier, the Ladies of The View suggested that Melania Trump deploy her “Be Best” campaign to get her husband to shove a sock in it, regarding bashing the dead Vietnam War vet who famously spent six years as a POW. “We’ve heard that the First Lady’s platform is ‘Be Best,’ about cyberbullying,” co-host Sunny Hostin noted today. “I would like to see Melania Trump … the Trump family stop this in the White House.” Meghan McCain, meanwhile, said hers is a family of privilege and hoped people instead focus on those being bullied who “don’t have women from The View to come out and support their family.” “There are kids committing suicide because of cyberbullying,” she reminded viewers of the ABC News program.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the late Sen. John McCain in the past weeks, for reasons known largely to himself. On Wednesday, Trump escalated his feud with a dead man, launching into an unprompted rant about McCain’s funeral (among other things) during a speech at a tank factory in Lima, Ohio. “I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president, I had to approve,” Trump said. “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.” This is an extremely confusing series of sentences. My best guess is that Trump is referring to the fact that he personally authorized the use of Air Force 2 to fly McCain’s body from Arizona to Washington, DC (where the funeral was held). It’s not the same thing as authorizing the whole funeral, as Trump appears to be taking credit for, but it’s something. It seems as though the president is salty that McCain’s family didn’t thank him for the use of the plane and is venting about it at a speech. Trump ghoulishly pats himself on the back for giving John McCain "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." pic.twitter.com/VzNddb7xKy — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2019 But that’s not even the most telling thing Trump said during his McCain diatribe. At one point, he vents about McCain’s role in the beginning of the Russia investigation. You might recall that McCain played an instrumental role in bringing the Steele Dossier — the source of the “pee tape” rumor and more grounded evidence of Trump-Russia ties — to the FBI’s attention. McCain received a copy of the dossier late in 2016, before it was public knowledge, and quietly sent it over to the appropriate authorities. Trump believes he shouldn’t have done this: John McCain received the fake and phony dossier. You hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton. And John McCain got it. And what did he do? He didn’t call me. He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put me in jeopardy. In Trump’s view, a senator presented with serious and terrifying allegations about the president-elect shouldn’t turn those over to the appropriate authorities. No, this information should be shared with him alone, and the fact that McCain did what most people would call the right thing only proves how much he hates Trump. This isn’t the logic of a public servant, to put it mildly. Trump didn’t have to say any of this. It’s not a hostile interview or a televised debate. It’s just a speech, where he decided — for no reason at all — to say stuff that makes him sound guilty and angry at a man who’s been dead since last August. Our president is extremely normal.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump continued his attacks on late Republican Senator John McCain during his speech at a military manufacturing plant in Ohio on Wednesday, during which he expressed frustration about McCain's funeral last year. "I gave him the kind of funeral 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 told the crowd. McCain, a Vietnam military veteran and prisoner of war, died in August 2018 at the age of 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. The longtime Republican served in Congress for more than three decades and was a two-time presidential candidate. "I have to be honest, I never liked him much and I probably never will," Trump said during his remarks. He also spent several minutes attacking McCain over the Steele dossier and for failing to repeal and replace Obamacare. "McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets at the VA, and they knew it," Trump said, referring to McCain's votes against the Republican effort to overhaul the Affordable Care Act in 2017. Trump also claimed to have won over military veterans during the 2016 election, due to his criticism of McCain's service record. President Trump has spent the past several days criticizing McCain, prompting backlash from Republican lawmakers. Senator Johnny Isakson, who last year warned that "anybody who in any way tarnished the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping," has called the comments "deplorable." Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late senator, said on Wednesday that her father would have found Trump's ongoing attacks "hilarious." "If I had told my dad, 'Seven months after you're dead, you're going to be dominating the news and all over Twitter,' he would think that it's hilarious that our president was so jealous of him," she said on ABC's The View, where she is a co-host. The nation mourned McCain's passing with multiple memorial services both in his home state of Arizona and in Washington, D.C. President Trump did not attend any of the services, nor was he invited to them by the McCain family. Cindy McCain, the wife of the late senator, told the BBC that they did not invite Trump because it was important to keep the services "respectful and calm and not politicize it." The day before his funeral, McCain laid in state at the U.S. Capitol. He was only the 31st person to receive the honor, joining the ranks of 11 presidents, six other members of Congress, three military leaders and the unknown soldiers from World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. At his funeral, which took place the Washington National Cathedral, McCain was eulogized by former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. At the time of the funeral services, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump thought the media coverage of McCain was "over-the-top" and more appropriate for the death of a president, rather than a senator.