MINNEAPOLIS — Three Minnesota congressman are taking heat over taking a commercial flight home from Washington Friday night just two days after they shared Air Force One with President Donald Trump.

Reps. Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Jim Hagedorn were on the same Delta Airlines flight despite that airline’s restrictions on passengers recently exposed to COVID-19. Trump announced early Friday morning he had tested positive for the virus.

Jim Hagedorn

Delta’s policy says customers who know they were exposed to the virus in the past 14 days cannot travel on their aircraft; the airline defines exposure as face-to-face contact with someone carrying the virus, or sustained contact for more than 15 minutes less than 6 feet apart.

Ken Martin, chairman of the state Democratic party, said the three Republican congressmen put the health and safety of other passengers at serious risk.

Hagedorn pushed back in a post on his campaign Facebook page Saturday morning, saying the three men had tested negative and had not been exposed to someone carrying the virus longer than 15 minutes and closer than 6 feet. He said the men also informed the airline and the flight’s captain of their situation and the airline “made the decision to fly based upon the facts.”

Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the flight was less than 40 percent full and that no one left the plane before it took off to protest the men’s presence.