Trump's tweet Saturday night did not mention McCain's military or Senate service nor include any praise for the late Arizona Republican.
White House chief of staff John Kelly, press secretary Sarah Sanders and other aides urged the release of an official statement calling McCain a "hero" and praising him for his extensive service to the country, the Post reported, citing current and former White House aides who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
The original statement was drafted before McCain died, the Post reports, and Sanders and others edited a final version for the President's review. But Trump said he wanted to post a tweet instead, and the prepared statement was not released.
Trump and McCain had a tense relationship, and McCain was one of the administration's most outspoken Republican critics.
After Trump's joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, in which Trump did not endorse US intelligence findings on Russian election meddling over Putin's denial, McCain said: "The damage inflicted by President Trump's naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake."
As a presidential candidate, Trump -- who did not serve in the military himself and avoided the draft through a series of deferments -- attacked McCain's record of service and said the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war is "not a war hero" because he was captured.
"I like people that weren't captured," Trump said. Trump later acknowledged that McCain was a hero, but refused to apologize in subsequent interviews.
In May, CNN reported McCain did not want Trump at his funeral.
Following McCain's death, other members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, joined political leaders in the United States and around the world in heaping accolades on the senator -- contrasting with the White House's response. In statements on Twitter, first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence thanked and honored McCain's service and offered condolences.
And Trump's re-election campaign also released a statement offering condolences and urging Americans to remember McCain and his family -- words that did not explicitly praise the senator.
As tributes continued to pour in from former US presidents, members of Congress and foreign leaders, Trump spent much of Sunday at his golf course in Virginia. His Twitter feed was largely silent except for retweets of his own posts criticizing the investigation into Russian election interference and boasting about the growing economy.
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