WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will question Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he comes before the committee. Slotkin has pressed Hegseth on illegal orders, use of military against American protestors, and the deploying troops in our streets.
Hegseth comes before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the middle of the Administration’s war in Iran that still has no defined goal and no end in sight and at the same time the Pentagon has purged almost two dozen senior military officers.
January 2025 — Armed Services Nomination Hearing:
Slotkin pressed Hegseth on whether he would follow an illegal or unconstitutional order from Trump , stating, “should President Trump give an illegal order… you are going to be the guy that he calls to implement this order.”
June 2025 — Armed Services Hearing on Military Deployments:
Slotkin questioned Hegseth over whether he had authorized the military to arrest, detain, or use lethal force on unarmed domestic protesters. Hegseth said that troops could “if necessary, in their own self-defense, temporarily detain” protesters to hand over to ICE.
In the past, Hegseth himself has made the same claim as Slotkin did in her No Illegal Orders video. Despite this, the Administration continued to pursue legal action against the lawmakers in the video.
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