{"id":1053628,"date":"2025-06-18T16:05:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T20:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1053628"},"modified":"2025-06-18T16:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T20:05:44","slug":"hegseth-is-enabling-trumps-dangerous-abuses-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/hegseth-is-enabling-trumps-dangerous-abuses-of-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth is Enabling Trump\u2019s Dangerous Abuses of Power\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At a Senate hearing today, Pete Hegseth doubled down on Donald Trump\u2019s dangerous agenda and broadcast his incompetence \u2014 laughing at a U.S. senator when she asked him about shooting unarmed protestors and refusing to say he will follow the law. Hegseth made it clear that he will enable Trump to carry out his campaign of revenge and retribution.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TODAY: Pete Hegseth refused to answer questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee on Donald Trump recklessly deploying federal troops to suppress those he views as political opponents.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Elissa Slotkin<\/a>: \u201cHave you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Hegseth: *Laughs* \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Slotkin: \u201cIt 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\u2019t accept the order. He had more guts and balls than you because he said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn\u2019t right.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Mazie Hirono<\/a>: \u201cIf a court says this deployment of troops into our cities is not legal, would you follow that court\u2019s order?\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth: \u201cI don\u2019t believe district courts should be determining national security policy. \u2026 If it goes to the Supreme Court, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Slotkin<\/a>: \u201cDo they have the ability, the uniformed military, to arrest and detain protesters currently, today?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth: \u201cUm. I-\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slotkin: \u201cIt\u2019s a yes or no thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth: *Doesn\u2019t answer question*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slotkin: \u201cBe a man. List it out. Did you authorize them to detain or arrest? That is a fundamental issue of democracy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump bypassed the authority of a sitting governor \u2014 the first time in about 60 years that a president has done so \u2014 and deployed the Marines and National Guard troops to suppress protests in California. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cPresident Donald Trump\u2019s order to deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles appears unprecedented, relying on an unorthodox use of a law aimed at quelling serious domestic unrest or an attack on the United States by a foreign power, some legal experts said Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt marks the first time in about 60 years that an American president has taken such action without a governor\u2019s consent<\/strong>. Furthermore, his executive order authorizes the Pentagon to dispatch military personnel domestically to enable federal functions and protect government property \u2014 a chilling sign, the experts said, that Trump is prepared to send troops into other cities in response to protests.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/a>: \u201cRemarkable images are emerging of Marines training and National Guardsmen armed with rifles accompanying ICE agents on raids in Los Angeles.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a scene President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say can be replicated in any other American city where there are protests against the administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom said Donald Trump\u2019s threats against him and other Democrats following the president\u2019s unilateral deployment of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area carried all the markings of authoritarianism. \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump and his border czar have targeted Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass by name with threats of arrests<\/strong> \u2014 and other ominous unspecified acts to be carried out by the federal government if the two don\u2019t fall in line. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCalifornia on Monday sued the Trump administration for authorizing the deployment against their will. The president and aides portrayed the move as just the start of potentially escalated action, including sending hundreds of U.S. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REMINDER: Trump has suggested using the military to suppress political speech before. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPR<\/a>: \u201cFormer Pentagon chief Esper says Trump asked about shooting protesters\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFormer Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said President Donald Trump inquired about shooting protesters amid the unrest that took place after George Floyd\u2019s murder in 2020. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEsper said he stayed in the administration because he worried that if he left, the president would more easily implement some of his \u2018dangerous ideas.\u2019 \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEsper said he and other top officials were caught off guard by Trump\u2019s reaction to the unrest in the summer of 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a Senate hearing today, Pete Hegseth doubled down on Donald Trump\u2019s dangerous agenda and broadcast his incompetence \u2014 laughing at a U.S. senator when she asked him about shooting unarmed protestors and refusing to say he will follow the law. Hegseth made it clear that he will enable Trump to carry out his campaign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHegseth is Enabling Trump\u2019s Dangerous Abuses of Power\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/hegseth-is-enabling-trumps-dangerous-abuses-of-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-18T20:05:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-18T20:05:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/hegseth-is-enabling-trumps-dangerous-abuses-of-power\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/hegseth-is-enabling-trumps-dangerous-abuses-of-power\/\",\"name\":\"Hegseth is Enabling Trump\u2019s Dangerous Abuses of Power\u00a0 - 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