(CNN) President Donald Trump didn't know that the White House Military Office asked lower-level US Navy officials to keep the USS John S. McCain out of his sight during his recent trip to Japan. But, man, did he ever set the table for something like that to happen.

Witness how Trump reacted Thursday morning to the story of the disappearing of the ship during his trip:

"I don't know what happened. I wasn't involved. I would not have done that. I was very angry with John McCain because he killed health care. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form. I think John McCain had a lot with getting President (George W.) Bush -- a lot to do with it to go into the Middle East, which was a catastrophe. To me, John McCain, I wasn't a fan. But I would never do a thing like that. Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn't like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say. I didn't know anything about it. I would never have done that."

How could anyone ever get the idea Trump didn't like the late Arizona senator???? (The ship, by the way, was originally named after McCain's father and grandfather -- the late senator was added as a namesake in 2018.)

Maybe because Trump said this about McCain , who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, back in 2015: "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

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