{"id":69583,"date":"2025-04-01T16:34:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T16:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/04\/01\/trumps-pick-to-lead-joint-chiefs-denies-maga-hat-story-in-hearing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:16:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:16:29","slug":"trumps-pick-to-lead-joint-chiefs-denies-maga-hat-story-in-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/04\/01\/trumps-pick-to-lead-joint-chiefs-denies-maga-hat-story-in-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s pick to lead Joint Chiefs denies MAGA hat story in hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to be the nation\u2019s highest-ranking military officer, sought to reassure lawmakers Tuesday that he would avoid political interference and was qualified for the job, despite having a resume unlike anyone previously tapped for the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI acknowledge that I am an unconventional nominee,\u201d Caine said. \u201cThese are unconventional times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the general faced repeated questions over his fitness to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff and how he was even nominated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump tapped Caine in February after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pentagon\/2025\/02\/22\/trump-fires-joint-chiefs-chairman-navy-head-in-dod-leadership-purge\/\" target=\"_blank\">firing the previous chairman, Gen. CQ Brown<\/a>, who was little more than a year into a four-year term. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also fired other top officers, including Chief of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/03\/17\/dod-leadership-firings-spark-concerns-over-support-for-female-officers\/\" target=\"_blank\">Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/02\/27\/former-pentagon-chiefs-call-for-hearings-on-military-leaders-firings\/\" target=\"_blank\">Air Force Vice Chief of Staff James Slife<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mass dismissals had no precedent and have worried many Democrats that the president was forcing politics into the military. Hegseth previously suggested both Brown and Franchetti, the first Black and female officers to hold their respective posts, were overly concerned with diversity or unqualified for their positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith all due respect to you, we should not be here today. This hearing is happening only because of the unprecedented dismissal without cause of General Brown,\u201d Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senators from both parties described Brown\u2019s firing as \u201cunfortunate,\u201d though they acknowledged that Caine had no role in the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/02\/22\/trump-fires-joint-chiefs-chairman-navy-head-in-dod-leadership-purge\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troops_Border_Chairman_40930.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump fires Joint Chiefs chairman, Navy head in DOD leadership purge<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as the nation\u2019s next chairman of the Joint Chiefs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adding to those concerns was Caine\u2019s own nomination. The general had previously held top posts leading U.S. special operations and advising the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s director on military affairs. But he had since retired and lacked the seniority required by law to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which the president can waive in cases of pressing national security need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even more concerning to some senators was a story Trump previously related about Caine donning a red hat branded with Trump\u2019s \u201cMake American Great Again\u201d campaign slogan and expressing political support in front of U.S. troops during a 2018 visit to Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Caine denied the story in his hearing Tuesday, suggesting the president may have been referencing someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve never worn any political merchandise or said anything to that effect,\u201d Caine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senators asked repeatedly whether he would remain candid while providing the best military advice to the president, the chairman\u2019s most important function. Democrats, in particular, pressed the general about whether he would do so in the face of displeasure from the president, which caused friction with past chairmen in Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retired Gen. Mark Milley, in particular, fell out with Trump in 2020 after a controversial appearance in Lafayette Square outside the White House, where law enforcement had aggressively cleared out protesters. Milley later said he regretted the appearance, and he criticized Trump after the president left office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump, in turn, removed Milley\u2019s portraits from the Pentagon and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/01\/29\/hegseth-strips-milley-of-security-detail-orders-treason-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">cut his security detail<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Caine also faced multiple questions about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/27\/senators-request-inquiry-into-military-secrets-shared-on-signal-app\/\" target=\"_blank\">the administration\u2019s use of Signal<\/a>, a commercial messaging app, to plan military strikes on Yemen. Top national security officials discussed the attacks while mistakenly including a journalist on the chat. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/26\/obviously-classified-experts-say-hegseth-chat-leaks-invited-danger\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hegseth also sent highly sensitive attack plans<\/a> to the group, detailing U.S. strikes before they occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Caine avoided commenting directly on the chat, which he described as \u201cpolitical.\u201d But he said that he would avoid sharing classified information on improper formats if confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should always preserve the element of surprise,\u201d Caine said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump has said Caine wore the hat and expressed political support during a 2018 visit to Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","your-military","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3458],"class_list":["post-69583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"O4JW2LYXGRBERAFMQDMOWJF5BI","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2025\/04\/01\/trumps-pick-to-lead-joint-chiefs-denies-maga-hat-story-in-hearing\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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