
Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, Head of state Donald Trump’s candidate to be the following chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Team, refuted on Tuesday that he has actually ever before put on a “Make America Great Again” hat or any type of various other kind of political product.
In a minimum of one retelling of Caine and Trump’s very first conference in Iraq in 2018, the head of state has actually appeared to show Caine was putting on a red MAGA hat, something that would certainly not be enabled under army policies.
The inquiry was postured by some legislators at Caine’s verification hearing prior to the Us senate Armed Solutions Board.
” Allow me begin by inquiring about some embellishment that might have been available in journalism,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., claimed at the beginning of Tuesday’s hearing. “Gen. Caine, did you use a MAGA hat before the head of state?”
” No, sir,” he reacted.
He offered the exact same response when asked by Wicker, “Did you use a MAGA hat any time?”

Lt. General John D. Caine takes his seat as he gets here for an Us senate Armed Solutions Board hearing on his election to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Team on Capitol Hillside in Washington, DC, on April 1, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
And when pushed by Wicker, Caine claimed, “Sir, for 34 years, I have actually maintained my vow of workplace and my dedication to my compensation, and I have actually never ever put on any type of political product.”
When Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking participant on the board, complied with up with the exact same line of examining, Caine addressed, “As I discussed to the chairman, for 34 years, I have actually maintained my vow of workplace and in the obligations of my compensation.
” I believe I returned and paid attention to those tapes, and I believe the head of state was in fact speaking about someone else,” Caine claimed. “And I have actually never ever put on any type of political product or claimed anything to that impact.”
Trump’s tale regarding just how he initially satisfied Caine has actually advanced throughout the years because he initially discussed Caine throughout statements at the Conventional Political Activity Meeting in February 2019, soon after his journey to Iraq the previous year.
Trump has actually continuously provided Caine credit report for finishing the battle versus the Islamic State and in his very first stating of their conference kept in mind just how Caine ended up being unforgettable to him for claiming that ISIS might be damaged in weeks by promptly striking highly at its last staying items of area in Syria, something Trump claimed his advisors in Washington said might still take years.

Lt. General John D. Caine takes his seat as he gets here for an Us senate Armed Solutions Board hearing on his election to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Team on Capitol Hillside in Washington, DC, on April 1, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP using Getty Pictures
Because very first retelling, Trump amusingly concentrated on just how he was struck by the general’s phone call indicator “Razin,” asking if it was a referral to the raisin fruit.
Trump remained to inform a variation of that tale throughout the years, yet finally year’s CPAC, where he once again raised that very first experience with Caine, the head of state showed up to state that Caine was putting on a red MAGA hat at the time.
Nonetheless, it was uncertain if Trump was describing Caine or to a sergeant since in the records of those statements, he initially discussed conference Caine, whom he described as basic and asked his name.
After that, according to the records, Trump showed up to ask a sergeant his name, that subsequently informed him, according to Trump, “Yes, sir. I enjoy you, sir. I believe you’re excellent, sir. I’ll eliminate for you, sir.”
After that he places on a “Make America Great Again” hat, as did numerous various other solution participants in Trump’s retelling.
” And they’re not meant to do this, yet they all placed on the ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, right? Not meant to do it. I claimed, you’re not meant to do that. You recognize that. They claimed, ‘It’s alright, sir. We do not care,'” Trump claimed.
The putting on of political product by army solution participants is not enabled as it is a tenet of an apolitical armed force.