President Donald Trump on Thursday responded to reports that he may have violated a military rule that prohibits personnel from participating in political activity while in uniform when he signed Make America Great Again hats and 2020 patches while visiting troops in Iraq earlier this week.
In a tweet, Trump claimed the campaign merch belonged to the soldiers and were not distributed by his team.
“If these brave young people ask me to sign their hat, I will sign. Can you imagine my saying NO?” he tweeted.
CNN & others within the Fake News Universe were going wild about my signing MAGA hats for our military in Iraq and Germany. If these brave young people ask me to sign their hat, I will sign. Can you imagine my saying NO? We brought or gave NO hats as the Fake News first reported!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018
The White House has taken a similar approach to dismissing the misstep. In a tweet on Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “CNN will attack anyone who supports President Trump, including the brave men and women of our military who fight everyday to protect our freedom.”
