President Donald Trump continued his streak of attacks on the late Sen. John McCain during a visit to an Ohio tank factory Wednesday.
Speaking on a cavernous manufacturing floor with an M1 Abrams tank arranged behind him, Trump blasted McCain’s handling of veterans issues, his vote on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his role in the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.
He even complained about McCain’s funeral.
“I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president, I had to approve,” he said. “I don’t care about this. I didn’t get a thank you, but that’s OK.”
After McCain’s death in August, Trump waited two days to issue a standard proclamation of praise for him and ordered the flag above the White House to be lowered to half-staff long after it had been lowered elsewhere.
The crowd at the Lima Army Tank Plant at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, made up of about 800 workers, guests and local officials, remained silent as Trump railed against McCain.
Some in the crowd did boo at a mention of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Trump complained that McCain had given the FBI a copy of the so-called Steele dossier, which alleged that his campaign had ties to Russia, in December of 2017.
“John McCain received the fake and phony dossier. Did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton, right?” he said. “And John McCain got it. He 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 recent days, Trump has criticized the Vietnam War hero and former Republican presidential nominee on Twitter and in remarks to the press while meeting with the Brazilian president at the White House. After McCain’s daughter, Meghan, fired back, Trump retweeted criticism of her as well, and McCain’s family seemed to be the target of his ire over the funeral.
During the Ohio visit, Trump also argued that McCain “didn’t get the job done” advocating for veterans as a senator and criticized him for providing the crucial vote against a Republican proposal to repeal Obamacare.
“John McCain campaigned for years to repeal and replace Obamacare … when he finally had the chance to do it, he voted against,” he said.
