The Daily Populous Thursday June 19th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by latintimes.com and submitted by PostHeraldTimes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laughed when asked if he had authorized the military to use lethal force against protesters, refusing to give a direct answer.

The question came from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) during a senate hearing on Wednesday. As Slotkin scolded Hegseth for laughing, he asked what the question was based on.

SLOTKIN: Have you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?HEGSETH: What is that based on?SLOTKIN: It is based on Trump giving that order to your predecessor, who I give a lot of credit to bc he didn't accept the order. He has more guts & balls than you

[image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 18, 2025 at 9:15 AM

Slotkin referenced Trump's former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who revealed in his memoir that in 2020, amid Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd, Trump asked, "Can't you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?" Esper said no. Months later, he was fired.

"He had more guts and balls than you," Slotkin told Hegseth. "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.'"

"This is not hearsay," Slotkin continued. "He wrote that in his book. So your poo-pooing of this just shows that you don't understand who we are as a country."

Again, Slotkin posed the question, "Have you given the order?"

"Senator, I'd be careful what you read in books and believing it," Hegseth deflected, adding, "Except for the Bible." Exasperated, Slotkin moved on.

At Hegseth's confirmation hearing earlier in the year, he dodged similar inquiries.

"Would you carry out such an order from President Trump?" asked Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), referencing the incident with Esper.

Rather than answer, Hegseth described his service in the National Guard in the summer of 2020, when protestors occupied Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. "I was carrying a riot shield on behalf of my country," he said, continuing to detail the event as Hirono repeated the question.

"That sounds to me that you will comply with such an order," Hirono finally stated. "You will shoot protesters in the leg." Hegseth did not confirm or deny her conclusion.

Hirono had questions for Hegseth during Wednesday's hearing too. With active litigation against the Trump administration's current deployment of the military against protestors in Los Angeles, Hirono asked Hegseth if he will respect the court's decision should the deployment be deemed illegal.

I asked Pete Hegseth a simple question: Will you follow federal court orders?

The lawlessness of this regime is a threat to all of us. pic.twitter.com/lOyRNDvHsU — Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) June 18, 2025

"I don't believe district courts should be determining national security policy," Hegseth replied. "When it goes to the Supreme Court, we'll see."

thieh on June 18th, 2025 at 21:01 UTC »

Of course he laughed. This is the "What are you going to do, arrest me?" laugh.

ToNoMoCo on June 18th, 2025 at 20:56 UTC »

I watched the exchange. He never answered the question

VanusGM on June 18th, 2025 at 20:53 UTC »

Fucking sociopath piece of shit