According to the Washington Post and several other outlets, someone inside the government told the press that the Coast Guard was changing its classification on extremist symbols, including swastikas and nooses. The Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Linda Fagan, is now insisting that the report is completely false and that the policy was never changed in the first place.
But something is not adding up here. The press did not invent a detailed claim like this out of nowhere. They reported it because someone, somewhere in the government, communicated it to them with enough authority that major outlets felt confident publishing it. That means either a leak happened, or an administration official said something internally that the press received as legitimate policy.
Once the story went public and backlash hit, the Coast Guard pushed out a full denial. So the question is simple. If the policy never changed, where did that story come from, and who told the press? Because major outlets do not risk their credibility by making up a federal policy change involving extremist symbols. If Admiral Fagan says the report is wrong, then someone inside the Trump administration either misled the press, leaked incomplete information, or created confusion inside the agencies themselves.
Either way, something in that chain is broken. And somebody is not telling the truth.
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U.S. Coast Guard
@USCG
“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false. These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy. Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as
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