00:00Senator Hicks, you've had a tough start. At your confirmation hearing, my
00:06Democratic colleagues and I rightly questioned whether you had the requisite
00:11qualifications and experience to lead the DOD, the largest federal agency.
00:16Especially given your checkered past, which included paying $50,000 in hush
00:22money to settle a sexual assault allegation against you and driving two
00:27veterans organizations into the ground. After only months on the job, our concerns
00:32about you have proven true, as far as I'm concerned. Instead of strengthening
00:36national security, you've turned the Pentagon into a dysfunctional mess. You
00:42are jeopardizing military operations and service members lives with your
00:46unprecedented action of texting classified military plans to anyone who might
00:53stroke your ego. Leading the Department of Defense is more than just a PR
00:59campaign filled with photo ops. While you pose for cameras, Russia's war of
01:05aggression against Ukraine continues unabated. Israel and Iran are also at war,
01:12in large part because your boss tore up a multilateral agreement former President
01:19Obama brokered with the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia that curbed Iran's
01:27nuclear program and ambitions. Meanwhile, China advances in the Pacific as this
01:35regime undermines and attacks our allies. At a time when steady leadership is
01:41critical, we are confronted with crisis and instability. Mr. Secretary, close to
01:485,000 Marines and National Guards have been deployed to LA without the request or
01:55consent of the California governor or the Los Angeles mayor, Bass. Rather than
02:01calming the situation, this troop deployment is purposefully inflaming and
02:07escalates tensions. You claim lethality is your top priority. Do you plan to unleash this
02:18lethal force against U.S. citizens and civilians in LA and other cities?
02:26Well, Senator, I would reject most of the characterization of that statement,
02:31including lethality against U.S. cities when all of those National Guards and Marines
02:37have conducted themselves with the utmost of professionalism defending our federal agents,
02:43Americans, who deserve to be able to do their job to deport illegal immigrants after the previous
02:48administration allowed 21 million illegals to cross our border. I am not here to listen to your
02:52rhetorical responses. I would like to have a professional response that I would expect from
02:57somebody who is the Secretary of Defense. Millions of people peacefully demonstrated this weekend against
03:06the president acting like a king. Given this regime's dangerous policy of mobilizing troops inside the U.S.,
03:15the politicizing of the military is a legitimate concern. So given the dangerous policy of mobilizing
03:23troops inside the U.S., if ordered by the president, I'm going to ask you once again, to shoot peaceful
03:28protesters in the legs, would you carry out such an order from the president? Senator, as I've said before,
03:37of course I reject the premise of your question and the characterization that I would be given or are
03:43given on lawful orders. It's all meant to attempt to smear the commander-in-chief and I won't fall for it.
03:48If the president in his first term actually ordered such a thing, it is not a premise that you can
03:56reject. He can order it, do the same thing. So again, I think you would just follow what the president
04:02wants you to do. Let's face it, it is not normal to call up our troops in this way and there is active
04:10litigation against this deployment. Will you follow a court's order regarding whether or not this deployment
04:18is legal? If the court says this deployment of troops into our cities is not legal, would you follow
04:25that court's order? It's pending in the courts, Senator. Well, when the court decides, would you
04:33follow that court's order decision? I don't believe district courts should be determining national
04:39security policy. So you will not be following that. When it goes to the Supreme Court, we'll see.
04:43Court? And unless the president decides to appeal, there you have it. So I take it that you don't
04:49consider district court decisions to be legitimate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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