Democrat Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin went on a tangent about the U.S. military’s presence at riots on Wednesday while she questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about a non-existent order regarding unarmed, peaceful protesters.
Slotkin heatedly asked if Hegseth had ordered the military to use “lethal force” on unarmed protesters, citing former Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s memoir where he accused President Donald Trump of suggesting that the military shoot Black Lives Matter rioters in the legs. Hegseth told the senator to be weary of believing things she reads in books, with exception of the Bible.
“[Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper] has more guts and balls than you because he said ‘I’m not gonna send in the uniform military to do something that I know in my gut isn’t right.’ He was asked to shoot at their legs, he wrote about that in his book. That’s not heresy. So your pooh-poohing of this shows you don’t understand who we are as a country, who we are. And all of my colleagues across the aisle, especially the ones that served, should want an apolitical military and not want citizens to be scared of their own military. I love the military, I served alongside [it] my whole life. So I’m worried about you tainting it. Have you given the order? Have you given the order that they can use lethal force against [unarmed protesters]. I want the answer to be no, please, tell me it’s no. Have you given the order?”
“Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books and believing it, except for the Bible,” Hegseth answered.
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Esper’s book, “A Sacred Oath,” claimed that Trump asked Esper if the military could shoot the rioters and protesters in the legs as they were filling the streets around the White House, though these allegations were never confirmed. Trump eventually fired Esper following the 2020 election.
Trump deployed over 2,000 National Guard troops and around 700 U.S. Marines to quell the violent riots that erupted in Los Angeles, California, over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrests of illegal immigrants. Rioters set automobiles ablaze, threw Molotov cocktails and fireworks, vandalized property and assaulted law enforcement, which prompted the deployment of National Guardsmen.
Tensions escalated between the National Guardsmen and rioters as law enforcement had a larger presence around federal buildings and blocked off several streets. Law enforcement shot flash bangs and gas during a Sunday riot in Los Angeles to keep a large group of rioters separated.
Tensions are rising downtown outside of the Los Angeles federal building where National Guard and Marines are posted outside @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/cDW5hYPoyJ
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 14, 2025
protesters chant “it is right to rebel, la migra go to hell” while trying to join up with another group. Officers are still shooting gas and flash bangs to keep the two separated @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/XXPuXafoS9
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 15, 2025
A federal judge rejected the state of California’s request to block the deployment of the National Guard, and a Clinton-appointed judge ordered Trump to stop deploying members of the California National Guard on Thursday, which a federal appeals court immediately struck down.
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