Dem Senator and Hegseth Duke It Out After She Asks If He’d ‘Seize’ Midterm Ballots: ‘Get Over It!’

Sen. Elissa Slotkin(D-MI) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsethduked it out at a Thursday hearing after Slotkin asked Hegseth whether he’d seize ballots and voting machines if he was ordered to do so by President Donald Trump.

During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Slotkin through out her hypothetical question and blasted Hegseth, whose opening statement was interrupted by a protester, for dismissing it as a “gotcha hypothetical.”

Sloktin said:

We know that in 2020 [Trump] wrote an executive order that he didn’t sign that said to the US military, to the Secretary of Defense, you should go and seize ballots and voting machines. A few months ago, he said that he regretted that he didn’t sign that executive order. So the US military has never been deployed. You incorrectly said yesterday that they were deployed during different elections.

Governors deployed them under their authorities, but the federal government has never put the uniformed military at our polls. During World War II, right after 911, we’ve never had to do that. So Secretary Hegseth, if the president, who regrets not signing that executive order to the then Sec-Def in 2020, asks you to seize ballots or voting machines in states during the 2026 election, will you stand up for the Constitution and say no, or will you salute and do his bidding?

“It’s yet another gotcha hypothetical, which is your specialty,” Hegseth said about the question.

“It’s not,” Sloktin shot back. “We had an executive order that your predecessor had to hold. It’s not a hypothetical. I refuse to accept. You give that answer all the time. You and I have done this dance before. Get over it, okay?”

She asked again if Hegseth would deploy the military and seize voting machines and accused him of “performing” for the president.

“Are you accusing me of performing? Because you’re performing for cable news right now,” Hegseth said.

“Dude, just answer the question,” a frustrated Slotkin responded.

“It’s a hypothetical. By the way, in 2024, under the Biden administration, 15 states did deploy troops to polling stations,” Hegseth said.

“Under their governors’ authority when their governors asked for it,” Slotkin shot back.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker(R-MS) eventually stepped in to ask Hegseth if he had a response to the question about election interference.

“I’ve never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won’t,” Hegseth said.

Watch above CSPAN .

The post Dem Senator and Hegseth Duke It Out After She Asks If He’d ‘Seize’ Midterm Ballots: ‘Get Over It!’ first appeared on Mediaite .