Pete Hegseth Gives Ominous Answer When Asked About Troops At Midterm Polling Places | EUROtoday

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, throughout congressional testimony on Wednesday, repeatedly dodged questions on whether or not he would perform an order from President Donald Trump to deploy troops throughout the midterm elections.

During the almost six-hour testimony earlier than the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) requested Hegseth if he would adjust to an order from Trump to deploy troops to polling areas throughout the midterms.

“What you’re trying to insinuate is that the president would give unlawful orders and we would somehow deploy troops as a result,” Hegseth mentioned. “And the evidence of our department is that we’ve worked alongside law enforcement very effectively for 15 months. Los Angeles would’ve been on fire for the summer had we not come across our law enforcement friends and helped them out.”

Tokuda then repeated her querypointing to feedback Trump made to The New York Times earlier this 12 months, by which he mentioned he regretted not ordering the National Guard to grab voting machines in key swing states after his 2020 election loss.

Hegseth once more seemingly dodged the query, whereas repeating components of his earlier reply, earlier than launching right into a tirade accusing former President Joe Biden of deploying National Guard troops throughout the 2024 election.

“You like to insinuate that the president issues illegal orders, which he hasn’t and does not,” Hegseth mentioned earlier than Tokuda minimize him off.

“It’s a simple question: Who would you follow, the president or the Constitution?” Tokuda requested.

“I will note that in 2024, troops were, that was Joe Biden by the way, were deployed to polling locations in 15 states. 2024, Joe Biden, troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me,” Hegseth mentioned.

Biden didn’t, in truth, deploy the National Guard throughout the 2024 election; quite, 15 particular person states activated their very own Guard models to assist state and native officers on Election Day, in response to a report from The Hill.

Despite being requested by Tokuda a number of instances, Hegseth refused to rule out sending troops to polling areas.

Watch Hegseth’s full testimony earlier than the House Armed Services Committee right here: