Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, denied on Tuesday that he had ever worn a Make America Great Again hat, despite comments by the president saying otherwise.
“Now, let me just start out by asking about some hyperbole that may have been out there in the press. Gen. Caine, did you wear a MAGA hat in front of the president?” Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Caine on Tuesday at his confirmation hearing before the committee.
“No, sir,” Caine responded.
“Did you wear a MAGA hat at any time?” Wicker asked.
“No, sir,” Caine responded again. Caine added that he has “never worn any political merchandise.”
The president has previously claimed that Caine said he “loved” Trump and would “kill for you” while he was wearing a MAGA hat.
Asked about those comments from the president, Caine told Democratic Sen. Jack Reed that he “went back and listened to those tapes, and I think the president was actually talking about somebody else. And I’ve never worn any political merchandise or said anything to that effect.”
Caine was announced as the next chairman in February, after a late-night firing of Gen. CQ Brown. Caine, a former F-16 pilot who retired in December, was described by current and former officials as a true professional who has avoided politics throughout his career.
If confirmed, Caine — who has spent much of his career working in highly classified intelligence and special operations roles and out of the public eye —will be entering the Pentagon at a politically charged moment. Thousands of troops have been surged to the southern border to help with Trump’s anti-immigration push, and the Pentagon has had to walk back a recent purge of diversity, equity and inclusion content from Defense Department websites.
Caine commissioned in 1990 as an Air Force officer through the Virginia Military Institute’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and has flown more than 150 combat hours in his career. He has served in the Air National Guard, at the senior level of Joint Special Operations Command, and at the CIA as the associate director for military affairs.
He was repeatedly asked Tuesday about high-profile national security stories from the first few months of the Trump administration, including a Signal chat used by topnational security officials to discuss a military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Caine largely dodged the questions on the chat, but said it is important to “protect the element of surprise” in military operations.
“I think we all can agree that we need to always protect the element of surprise,” Caine said. He added that he has “always used the right system for the right kinds of communications.”
“I don’t know in particular, you know, what information was classified in what way on that Signal chat,” Caine said.
A military official who has served with Caine and known him for over a decade previously told CNN that while there has been a narrative he was chosen as the next chairman “because he’s a partisan guy … I’ve never seen any indication that, and knowing him, he’s never been partial to any political party or mentioned anything about politics in our time together.”
The bipartisan support for Caine was largely apparent during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, with senators from both sides of the aisle thanking him for his years of service and telling him they looked forward to working with him.
Caine acknowledged Tuesday that he is an “unconventional nominee,” but said these are “unconventional times.”
“It is 9:48 p.m. in Beijing, 6:48 p.m. in Tehran, 4:48 p.m. in Moscow, and 10:48 p.m. in Pyongyang. As we sit here now, our nation faces an unprecedented rising global risk,” Caine said. “Our adversaries are advancing, global nuclear threats are on the rise, and deterrence is paramount. Our national defense requires urgent action and reform across the board. We must go faster. We must move with a sense of urgency.”