Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday in response to reports that someone in the White House tried to hide the USS John McCain during the president’s trip to the Pacific.
“John McCain was a war hero, should be treated as a war hero. Anything less than that is beneath anyone who doesn’t treat him that way,” Biden said to reporters.
Biden skipped public events on Memorial Day on Monday but attended a Memorial Day service on Thursday in Delaware.
He responded to Trump, who described the White House request to hide the ship as “well-meaning,” but denied having any knowledge about the request.
“I wasn’t a fan of John McCain. I never will be, but certainly, I couldn’t care less if there is a boat named after his father,” Trump said on Thursday.
Biden defended McCain as a “friend” after attending a Memorial Day service in Delaware on Thursday.
“We loved each other, but we argued like the devil,” he said. “But we still abided by the same values system, and that’s why I love John McCain, and that’s why I think we need a lot more John McCain.”
Biden declined to weigh in on if Congress should impeach McCain, noting that he would not talk politics after a Memorial Day service.