Looks like the Defense Department deleted that tweet zinging Colin Kaepernick

Brett T. | 7:01 PM on December 08, 2016

As Twitchy reported Wednesday, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, took a thinly veiled shot at San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during his Pearl Harbor anniversary address, saying those being honored at the ceremony “never took a knee and never failed to stand whenever they heard our national anthem being played.”

The Department of Defense had tweeted that quote from the speech, along with video, but later deleted the tweet.

The @DeptofDefense deleted its tweet taking a potshot at Kaepernick at a Pearl Harbor memorial. https://t.co/qUwXa1rWsy

— Daniel Rubin (@DanielYRubin) December 8, 2016

Notable @DeptofDefense promoted Admiral Harris' remarks at Pearl Harbor in a tweet, but later deleted that tweet. https://t.co/oAetA4FhsV

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) December 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/Tmgneff/status/806873963775361024

The Washington Post followed up with the Defense Department on the deleted tweet. Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge explained that the Defense Department “decided we didn’t want to weigh in on something that could be construed as political.” Hey, they just drop the bombs where people tell them to, OK?

Phillip Carter, a former Army officer and Pentagon official, told the Post that Harris’s comment wasn’t appropriate, calling it absurd that a member of the military would call out a citizen for exercising his right to free speech when it’s the military’s job to protect that right.