On a Feb. 10, 2019 edition of "Fox & Friends Sunday," Pete Hegseth explained that his 2019 New Year's resolution was "say things on air that I say off air."
Following through on that promise, he told his co-hosts that he had not washed his hands in 10 years because "germs are not a real thing. I can't see them, therefore they are not real."
A Jan. 23, 2021 thread on Reddit brought the quote back to the surface two years later.
https://streamable.com/df3k5d
As reported by The Guardian, Hegseth largely walked back his comments, deriding the media for taking his words seriously:
On Twitter ..., Hegseth gave mixed messages. He claimed he had been joking and paraphrased the president in blaming the media for being so “self-righteous and angry”. He also said he supported drinking from hosepipes and riding bikes without a helmet.
Germs are a real thing, even when you can't see them. This is one reason health organizations recommend washing your hands to prevent the spread of COVID-19 — a timely example of a real germ that would not be visible to Hegseth.
Because he did say those words, the quote is correctly attributed to Hegseth.