Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) got into a heated back-and-forth earlier today during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and based on Hegseth’s responses to her questions, it remains unclear if the secretary understands the basics of what the U.S. military is allowed to do under the law.
“Does the uniformed military have the ability to arrest and detain protesters?” Slotkin asked Hegseth, clearly referencing troops who were put on the ground in Los Angeles at the order of Donald Trump.
Hegseth fumbled his reply, leading Slotkin to prompt, “It’s a yes or no thing.”
“It’s bemusing the extent to which the speculation is out there. These troops are given very clear orders,” Hegseth told the senator.
“Then what is the order? Then list it out for us. Be a man! List it out!” she said. “Did you authorize them to detain or arrest. That is a fundamental of democracy. I’m not trying to be a snot here. I’m just trying to get the actual — did you authorize them to do that?”
Hegseth: “All of these orders and what they are sent to do are public.”
“Ok, so say it, say it. Yes or no,” Slotkin demanded.
“I’d like to,” Hegseth said.
“Please. Yes or no,” she prompted.
“I’ve said time and time again, through interruption, they are there to protect law enforcement,” Hegseth responded, still refusing to answer Slotkin’s query.
“Do they have the ability to arrest —”
“To do their job deporting illegals allowed in by the previous administration,” Hegseth interrupted.
Slotkin: “So, they cannot arrest and detain citizens of the United States? The uniformed military, is that right?”
“As we stated, if necessary, in their own self-defense, they can temporarily detain and hand over to ICE, but there’s no arresting going on, and you know this better than — you’re trying to play political games,” Hegseth told the senator.
Slotkin then asked the defense chief, “Have you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?”
Hegseth laughed, which led Slotkin to tell him, “I’m just asking the question. Don’t laugh. The whole country — and by the way, my colleagues across the aisle —”
“What is that based on? What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given?” Hegseth sneered.
“It is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor, to a Republican Secretary of Defense who I give a lot of credit to because he didn’t accept the order. He has more guts and balls than you because he said, ‘I’m not going to send in the military to do something that I know in my gut is not right. He was asked to shoot at their legs. He wrote that in his book. That’s not hearsay. So your pooh-poohing of this, it just shows you don’t understand who we are as a country. And all of my colleagues across the aisle, especially the ones that served, should want an apolitical military and not want citizens to be scared of their own military.”
Here’s the video:
