During testimony in the United States Senate on Tuesday, Pete Hegseth, former Fox News personality turned president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, refused to answer a question regarding whether he’d follow an order from Trump to shoot at demonstrators.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) cited past assertions from former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had served under Trump’s first term in office. In a memoir Esper authored, he recounted how Trump had asked what methods would be acceptable to respond to demonstrators during an uprising outside of the White House in 2020 sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.
Trump had asked Esper if the military could “just shoot [protesters]…in the legs or something.” Esper recounted how he struggled to explain to Trump that that was an amoral and unconscionable option.
“I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid,” Esper wrote.
During day one of Hegseth’s nomination hearings, Hirono, referencing Esper’s recollections, framed her question in a way that couldn’t be misinterpreted: “Would you carry out such an order from President Trump?” she asked.
Hegseth refused to answer, instead recounting how he had served in the D.C. National Guard when the uprisings were unfolding. When Hirono interrupted Hegseth to ask him again, he still refused to answer the question directly.
Exasperated with his refusal to respond adequately, Hirono said she would interpret his non-answer as an affirmative to her question.
“You know what? That sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. You will shoot protesters in the leg,” she said.
Hirono’s concerns are based not only on comments from past Trump officials, but on statements made by Trump himself.
During his presidential campaign last year, Trump indicated that he planned to use the military to execute his mass deportation plans and to “enforce” laws in cities like Chicago and New York. He also said that the National Guard should be deployed against left-leaning people, whom he baselessly claimed would disrupt the election, describing such individuals as “the enemy from within.”
In 2023, The Washington Post reported that Trump and his allies, presuming he would win the election, had made plans to deploy the military against demonstrators on his first day back in office. And in 2020, Trump threatened governors of several states with military force during the George Floyd uprisings.
It’s currently unclear whether Hegseth has enough votes from Republicans (who control 53 seats of the Senate) to be confirmed as defense secretary, but past reports have indicated that the nominee — who also faces accusations of physical and sexual abuse against women, and who has made disparaging comments about women and LGBTQ people serving in the military — may well be confirmed, having gained momentum among right-leaning senators over the past month.
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