Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, the nominee to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he’s never put on a “Make America Great Again” hat, disputing a frequently repeated story from President Donald Trump, who nominated him.

Caine, the retired three-star Air Force general, declined the story publicly for the first time on Tuesday during his senate confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee.

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Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) asked Caine about the president’s story during his initial questioning of Caine, who denied it and added, “Sir, for 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission, and I have never worn any political merchandise.”

As Trump has retold the story, he met with Caine, then-the deputy commanding general over the Special Operations Joint Task Force in Iraq, in December 2018, and he told the president that it would only take a matter of weeks to defeat ISIS, while the president’s advisers had reportedly said it would take years.

The general, the president claimed, told him, “I’ll kill for you, sir,” and the president added, “Then he puts on a Make America Great Again hat.”

The military is meant to be apolitical and the chairman’s position is as well.

Trump announced his decision to fire former Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown on February 21, and formally sent Caine’s nomination to the Senate on March 10.

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Later in the hearing, the nominee claimed the president wasn’t actually talking about him in that story.

“I went back and listened to those tapes, and I think the President was actually talking about somebody else,” he claimed.