Pete Hegseth ducked and dodged around answering questions on the likelihood he would deploy troops to polling places during this year’s November elections.
During Thursday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) pressed Hegseth on whether he’d send troops to seize ballots at voting machines in the upcoming elections, something President Donald Trump previously said he regretted not doing in the 2020 election – which he still contends was stolen from him.
“If the president, who regrets not signing that executive order to the then SecDef in 2020, asks you to seize ballots or voting machines in states during the 2026 election will you stand up to the Constitution and say no, or will you salute and do his bidding?” Slotkin asked.
Hegseth sidestepped the question by saying Slotkin was engaging in “yet another gotcha hypothetical.” Slotkin refuted that and pressed him even harder, noting it was no longer hypothetical based on Trump’s previous comments of regret.
“It’s not a hypothetical. I refuse to accept — you give that answer all the time,” she said. “You and I have done this dance before, get over it! Your boss, the guy you’re performing for right now, told the journalists this year that he wished he signed that executive order to your predecessor. And your predecessor said publicly ‘Thank god, we didn’t actually go forward with it.’ What are you going to do?”
She added: “You’re the guy here in the seat. It’s not hypothetical. Tell the American people, will you deploy the uniform military to our polls to collect voter rolls or machines?”
Again, Hegseth ducked the opportunity to rise to the moment and say definitively he wouldn’t send troops to seize ballots. Instead, he accused Slotkin of performing for cable.
“Dude, just answer the question,” Slotkin responded.
Hegseth did not answer the question. Rather, he pointed out that soldiers were deployed to ballot stations in the 2024 elections already. Slotkin came back quick to point out that those troops were ordered by the individual state’s governors and not President Biden. She then urged him a final time to commit to not deploying soldiers during the upcoming election.
“It’s never been done in our history,” Slotkin said. “Please stand up for the Constitution. Do not send uniform military to our polls.”
