The New York Times reports that Navy personnel assigned to the USS John S. McCain were not invited to President Donald Trump’s rally on the nearby USS Wasp during his visit to Japan last week and that at least of few of the ship’s sailors wearing its patch were blocked from entering the rally.

“Two Navy sailors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said that the McCain sailors were not invited to hear Mr. Trump speak that day aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp, while sailors from other American warships at the base were. One Navy sailor said that McCain sailors wearing their ship’s patches were even turned away from the president’s address.”

The Times story follows up on an earlier Wall Street Journal article that reported, in preparation for Trump’s trip to see the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House made several requests to shield the president from encountering the namesake of his political nemesis, the recently deceased Sen. John S. McCain. The warship was named after the late senator’s father and grandfather, who were both US Navy admirals. Trump has since denied any knowledge about the requests, which White House officials have confirmed.

Nevertheless, the reaction online to the White House’s moves was both swift and merciless.

The Times story adds another layer of snubbing to the story. The Journal had previously reported that USS McCain sailors had been given the day off, but it made no mention of these more active measures being taken to protect Trump from seeing McCain’s name.

File photo credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images