Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell echoed a comment about a reporter’s mother made earlier by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, after a HuffPost journalist asked about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s tie, which resembled the Russian flag.

Hegseth wore a tie with wide white, blue, and red stripes at the October 17 meeting. While these colors are used in U.S. national symbols, the sequence on Hegseth’s tie matched that of the Russian flag. Other U.S. officials, including President Trump, opted for solid-colored ties.

“Your mother bought him that tie, it’s a patriotic American tie, you idiot,” Parnell responded to the journalist’s question about the tie’s “Russian colors.”

When asked whether Hegseth’s frequent use of elements from the U.S. flag in clothing might violate flag usage rules, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson replied that his boss is “a patriot who honors the country and the flag.”

Earlier, Leavitt, in response to a HuffPost journalist asking who chose Budapest as the likely meeting place for Russian and U.S. leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, quipped: “Your mommy.”