"Gaither said he was not concerned about the cross, it was the "Deus Vult" that worried him.

The same phrase had been brandished on banners by the Jan. 6 rioters a few days earlier.

Hegseth, a former National Guardsman and Fox News commentator who was nominated Tuesday by President-elect Trump to be defense secretary, was pulled from inauguration service. Hegseth later wrote that he saw the incident as a rejection by the military.

"The feeling was mutual"I didn't want this Army anymore either," Hegseth said, recounting the episode in his book "The War on Warriors," published earlier this year.

"Twenty years, and the military I loved, I fought for, I revered spit me out."

Hegseth is "somebody who appears to be more interested in going to war with the Pentagon and with our service men and women than preparing them for potential war with our adversaries," said Rep. Jason Crow (D., Colo.). "

Trump only hires the best people!