Hegseth never washes his hands

[Jim__]

4. Apparently, this was said as a joke.

BBC Canada

His remarks came after co-hosts Ed Henry and Jedediah Bila made fun of him for eating left-over pizza.

...

Mr Hegseth later told USA Today that his remarks were intended to be a joke.

"We live in a society where people walk around with bottles of Purell (a hand sanitiser) in their pockets, and they sanitise 19,000 times a day as if that's going to save their life," he said.

"I take care of myself and all that, but I don't obsess over everything all the time."