WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top press aide is horning in on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s childhood insult game, telling HuffPost that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wore a tie that resembles the Russian flag because “your mom bought it for him.”
Hegseth wore that neckwear during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House Friday, for which he won compliments from a top aide to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the official Russian news agency, TASS, because its red, white and blue stripes match the pattern of Russia’s flag.
When HuffPost asked Hegseth’s aides if he was aware of the praise from Russia and if he had worn the tie previously, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell responded with the prepared statement: “Your mom bought it for him — and it’s a patriotic American tie, moron.”
HuffPost then followed up with a question asking if Hegseth — who frequently wears clothes made up of pieces of the U.S. ensign — was aware of the U.S. flag code, which states in part: “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.”
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson responded to that with the statement: “If loving one’s country enough to represent it head to toe is a crime in the eyes of the leftist blog known as HuffPost, then consider Secretary Hegseth guilty. He is a patriot who reveres this country and our flag.”
