‘BE A MAN’ | MI’s Sen. Slotkin and SecDef Hegseth spar in fiery exchange

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Typically, a hearing on a federal budget request may not strike many outside the beltway as cause for verbal fireworks.

But given the presence of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a now-polarizing figure for many in American politics, Wednesday’s meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2026 request was far from mundane.

Some of the fiercest back-and-forth came from a line of questioning brought by U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan).

For the majority of her time, Slotkin pressed Hegseth on lines of inquiry related to the presence of at least 4,700 National Guard and Marine personnel in Los Angeles who had been sent amidst protests against federal immigration policy.

She began by questioning as to whether the secretary had given military members authorization to detain or arrest protesters.

As Hegseth began to assert that the troops “are given very clear orders,” Slotkin interjected.

“Then what is the order?” she asked. “Then list it out for us. Be a man, list it out. Did you authorize them to detain or arrest? That is a fundamental issue of democracy.”

“All of these orders and what they’re sent there to do are public,” he later responded. “They’re there to-“

“So say it,” Slotkin pressed. “So say it, yes or no.”

“Please,” she said. “Yes or no.”

But, much to Slotkin’s displeasure, his answer was neither a simple “yes” or “no.”

“As I’ve said time and time again, through interruption, they’re there to protect law enforcement,” Hegseth said. “They have the ability to protect ICE officers who are trying to do their job deporting illegals who were allowed in by the previous administration.”

But in her effort to elicit what she felt were necessary, succinct and vital answers, Slotkin seemed undeterred.

“They cannot arrest and detain citizens of the United States, the uniform military, is that right?” she asked.

“As we’ve stated, if necessary, in their own self-defense, they could temporarily detain and hand over to ICE,” Hegseth said. “There’s no arresting going on, and you know this better than- you are trying to play political games. There’s no arrests of U.S. personnel.”

This comes after, in an interview last week with ABC News and the Associated Press, ABC reported that “the commander overseeing U.S. military operations in Los Angeles said Wednesday that troops deployed to the city can temporarily detain individuals if necessary but cannot make arrests, clarifying their authority amid ongoing protests.”

But the questioning didn’t end there, as Slotkin felt more could be feasible under the current administration.

“Have you given the order for- to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?” she asked. “I’m just asking the question, don’t laugh.”

“What is that based on?” Hegseth retorted. “What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given?”

After having mentioned it earlier in the hearing, Slotkin, in her response, seemed to return to a claim she said had been made by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper from President Donald Trump’s first term.

“He had more guts and balls than you, because he said, ‘I’m not going to send in the uniform military to do something that I know in my gut isn’t right.’ He was asked to shoot at [protesters’] legs. He wrote that in his book, that’s not hearsay.”

“Have you given the order that they can use lethal force against un- I want the answer to be ‘no,'” she said. “Please tell me it’s ‘no.’ Have you given the order?”

“Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books and believing it,” he responded, “except for the Bible.”

“Oh, my God,” Slotkin sighed.