Trump nominee to be high normal denies carrying MAGA hat

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the subsequent chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, denied on Tuesday that he has ever worn a “Make America Nice Once more” hat or some other sort of political merchandise.

In a minimum of one retelling of Caine and Trump’s first assembly in Iraq in 2018, the president has appeared to point Caine was carrying a purple MAGA hat, one thing that will not be allowed below navy guidelines.

The query was posed by some senators at Caine’s affirmation listening to earlier than the Senate Armed Providers Committee.

“Let me begin off by asking about some hyperbole which will have been on the market within the press,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., mentioned initially of Tuesday’s listening to. “Gen. Caine, did you put on a MAGA hat in entrance of the president?”

“No, sir,” he responded.

He offered the identical reply when requested by Wicker, “Did you put on a MAGA hat at any time?”

And when pressed by Wicker, Caine mentioned, “Sir, for 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of workplace and my dedication to my fee, and I’ve by no means worn any political merchandise.”

When Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the rating member on the committee, adopted up with the identical line of questioning, Caine answered, “As I discussed to the chairman, for 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of workplace and within the tasks of my fee.

“I believe I went again and listened to these tapes, and I believe the president was really speaking about any individual else,” Caine mentioned. “And I’ve by no means worn any political merchandise or mentioned something to that impact.”

Trump’s story about how he first met Caine has advanced through the years since he first talked about Caine throughout remarks on the Conservative Political Motion Convention in February 2019, shortly after his journey to Iraq the earlier 12 months.

Trump has repeatedly given Caine credit score for ending the struggle in opposition to the Islamic State and in his first recounting of their assembly famous how Caine turned memorable to him for saying that ISIS could possibly be destroyed in weeks by rapidly placing strongly at its final remaining items of territory in Syria, one thing Trump mentioned his advisers in Washington argued might nonetheless take years.

In that first retelling, Trump jokingly centered on how he was struck by the overall’s name signal “Razin,” asking if it was a reference to the raisin fruit.

Trump continued to inform a model of that story through the years, however finally 12 months’s CPAC, the place he once more introduced up that first encounter with Caine, the president appeared to state that Caine was carrying a purple MAGA hat on the time.

Nonetheless, it was unclear if Trump was referring to Caine or to a sergeant as a result of within the transcript of these remarks, he first talked about assembly Caine, whom he known as normal and requested his title.

Then, based on the transcript, Trump appeared to ask a sergeant his title, who in flip advised him, based on Trump, “Sure, sir. I really like you, sir. I believe you are nice, sir. I will kill for you, sir.”

Then he places on a “Make America Nice Once more” hat, as did a whole bunch of different service members in Trump’s retelling.

“And so they’re not supposed to do that, however all of them placed on the ‘Make America Nice Once more’ hat, proper? Not alleged to do it. I mentioned, you are not supposed to try this. You already know that. They mentioned, ‘It is OK, sir. We do not care,'” Trump mentioned.

The carrying of political merchandise by navy service members will not be allowed as it’s a tenet of an apolitical navy.