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His appearance on Fox News went viral instantly after he called out the host for treating his marriage as different.
While appearing on Fox News Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shut down a Fox News host's line of questioning and highlighted the host's hypocrisy when it comes to same-sex couples.
During Special Report with Bret Baier, for what Fox News billed as an exclusive interview, Buttigieg criticized the host for asking a question that implied he had misused a government jet to take his husband, Chasten, on a trip to Europe in April.
"You also brought your husband Chasten on a military aircraft to attend a sporting event in the Netherlands," Baier began as Buttigieg interjected, "That's quite a spin to put on it!"
Baier continued, "No. No. No. Was that reimbursed? Because that was one of the controversies--" when Buttigieg exclaimed, "Of course not!"
His face became severe and eyes seemingly pierced through Baier when the military veteran, whose service included deployment to Afghanistan, explained the reason for and history of the trip.
"I led a presidential delegation to support American wounded warriors and injured service members [at] the Invictus Games, as has been tradition for many years," Buttigieg said.
The Invictus Games is an international sporting event for injured and sick servicemen and women.
"I led the American delegation as one of the great honors of my time in this job. And the diplomatic protocol on a presidential delegation is that the principal is often accompanied by their spouse. It was a great trip. It was incredible," the transportation secretary explained.
He said that the trip coincided with the first several weeks of Russia's war in Ukraine and that it was possible through the U.S. Embassy to engage with Ukrainian athletes.
"Some of them went from the games back to the battlefield to fight for their country," he noted for Baier.
Buttigieg explained that he sat with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to discuss Dutch port infrastructure.
"But here's what I want you to understand. Before me, it was the Secretary Army under President Trump who took that trip with his wife. Before that, it was Mrs. Trump, as First Lady, who went to the Invictus Games. Before that, Mrs. Obama did the same thing," he said.
"And, I guess, the question on my mind is, if no one's raising questions about why Secretary [Mark] Esper and his wife led that delegation."
"No...," Baier said.
Buttigieg continued, "Then why is it any different when it is me and my husband?"
Baier said he "understood" before pivoting to another topic.
U.S. Army veteran and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Donald Remy, and Air Force Undersecretary Gina Ortiz Jones joined the Buttigiegs in the presidential delegation.
Prince Harry, who founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to honor wounded veterans, and his wife Meghan Markle attended as well, though not as part of any U.S. delegation.
Soon after the show aired, Secretary Pete began trending on Twitter, and the interview clips gained millions of views.
One popular Twitter account posting clips of news shows just wrote, "wow."
\u201cWow\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1672963348
