Senator Derides Hegseth’s ‘Guts And Balls’ As He Dodges Question On Shooting Protesters
The defense secretary told Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin that she should only believe what she reads in the Bible.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s lack of “guts and balls” during a hearing Tuesday when he refused to say whether he’d given orders to the military to shoot at unarmed protesters.
The heated exchange ― one of several during Hegseth’s series of hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee ― kicked off when Hegseth apparently laughed at Slotkin’s inquiry about whether he’d given such orders.
“Don’t laugh,” warned Slotkin, who served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst.
“What is that based on? What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given?” Hegseth spoke over her.
Their back-and-forth comes as Trump deploys National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles, where brutal immigration raids have inspired massive protests.
Exchange on if an order has been given to shoot at unarmed protesters. @SecDef Pete Hegseth: “What is that based on?”@SenatorSlotkin: “It is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor…he had more guts and balls than you…he wrote that in his book…”… pic.twitter.com/rSW6VFOH6R
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 18, 2025
When Hegseth stopped speaking, Slotkin went on to explain why her question was valid. Mark Esper, a defense secretary during President Donald Trump’s first term, wrote in his book that Trump had asked about shooting protesters during the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
Esper “had more guts and balls than you, because he said, ‘I’m not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn’t right,’” Slotkin told Hegseth. “He was asked to shoot at their legs. He wrote that in his book. That’s not hearsay. So your pooh-poohing of this, it just shows you don’t understand who we are as a country.”
Hegseth refused to answer Slotkin’s question about ordering troops to shoot civilians, simply replying: “Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books and believing it ― except for the Bible.”
“Oh my God,” a visibly frustrated Slotkin replied before moving on.
In his 2022 memoir, Esper wrote that in a “surreal” moment in June 2020, Trump had asked him if he could have the military shoot protesters.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump reportedly asked Esper.
Trump has denied Esper’s account. Though Hegseth cast doubt on the former defense secretary’s claim, others have backed him up.
Sources told Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender in 2021 that Trump wanted officers to “beat the fuck” out of Black Lives Matter protesters, “crack their skulls,” or at least “shoot them in the leg — or maybe the foot, but be hard on them.”
