If Trump Orders Soldiers To Shoot Americans, He Seems To Have A Willing ‘Yes Man' At The Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at his confirmation hearing refused to rule out opening fire on protesters if Trump ordered it.

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump ramps up his use of the military to quell domestic dissent, he has on his side a Pentagon chief apparently ready to carry out any order Trump gives him, possibly including a potentially illegal one to shoot American citizens.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, specifically asked during his January confirmation hearing whether he would have obeyed a 2020 Trump demand to shoot protesters — as Trump had wanted then-Secretary Mark Esper to do in his first term — would not answer and instead dodged the question.

“I was in the Washington, D.C. National Guard unit that was in Lafayette Square during those events holding a riot shield on behalf of my country. I saw 50 Secret Service agents get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fences, set the church on fire and destroy a statue,” Hegseth said in response to Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono.

A minute later, Hegseth cited Trump’s leadership as the reason he would not provide definitive answers to that or other questions.

“One of the things that President Trump is so good at is never strategically tipping his hand, and so I would never in this public forum give one way or another what orders the president gives to me in any context,” he said.