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Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, President Trump’s nominee to be the next Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, told lawmakers he never wore a “Make America Great Again” hat during a 2018 meeting with him in Iraq.
The retired fighter pilot, call sign “Razin,” added that comment Tuesday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Sir, for 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission. I have never worn any political merchandise,” Gen. Caine told Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee.
According to media reports, Mr. Trump claimed that Gen. Caine put on a MAGA hat and said “I’ll kill for you, sir” during their meeting while visiting U.S. troops in western Iraq. The president also recalled the general telling him that ISIS could be defeated in a matter of weeks, rather than the two years that were predicted.
“We’re only hitting them from a temporary base in Syria,” Mr. Trump said the general told him. “But if you gave us permission, we could hit them from the back, from the side, from all over — from the base that you’re right on, right now, sir. They won’t know what the hell hit them.”
Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail last year that Gen. Caine proved correct, defeating ISIS in four weeks.
Tuesday was the first time Gen. Caine publicly contradicted wearing the cap. He testified that U.S. military personnel are obligated to be nonpolitical and nonpartisan. He did push back on the MAGA hat issue, however.
“I went back and listened to those tapes, and I think the president was actually talking about somebody else,” Gen. Caine told Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the committee’s top Democrat. “I’ve never worn any political merchandise or said anything to that effect.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Gen. Caine will be promoted to four-star general and replace Gen. Charles Q. Brown, who was ousted in the new administration’s shake-up of top military leaders.
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