Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to deflect questions about whether he’d obey an order to illegally send American troops to polling stations during the November midterm elections with a familiar response on Thursday, but one Democratic senator wasn’’t having it.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, used her time at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing meant to examine next year’s Pentagon budget to press Hegseth on how he’d respond if President Donald Trump orders him to deploy troops to seize ballots of voting machines — something Trump has said he regrets not doing after losing the 2020 election. She also pointed out that Hegseth had falsely accused the prior Biden administration of putting troops at the polls during testimony before the House a day earlier.
