In a heated exchange with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to answer the question of whether he’d given the order allowing the military to arrest or detain unarmed protesters.
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Slotkin questioned Hegseth about whether he’d given orders allowing the military to arrest or detain protesters, use cyber tools to investigate protesters or use lethal force on unarmed protesters.
Hegseth ultimately said the military could “if necessary, in their own self-defense they could temporarily detain” protesters to hand over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When he denied allowing military cyber tools to investigate those participating in the protests, Slotkin said “OK, that’s good. I love that answer.”
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But Hegseth refused to answer Slotkin’s question about shooting at unarmed protesters, something former defense secretary Mark Esper alleged in his book President Donald Trump instructed him to do during his first term.
“What evidence do you have that an order like that has ever been given?” Hegseth said.
“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,” Slotkin said. “He had more guts and balls than you because he said, ‘I’m not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn’t right.’”
Hegseth testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday as tensions rise in the Middle East and President Donald Trump is reportedly considering whether to involve the U.S. in Israel’s strikes on Iran.
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