Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an outspoken Christian, left a Senate Democrat speechless when Hegseth pushed back against claims that his predecessor, Mark Esper, was more fit for the job based on the contents of Esper’s 2022 memoir. In response, Hegseth told the senator to “Be careful of what you read in books,” clarifying, “Except for the Bible.”
For context, during a Capitol Hill hearing on June 18, 2025, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) ripped into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying that Hegseth’s predecessor, Mark Esper, had “more guts and balls” than Hegseth based on Secretary Hegesth’s response to the violent anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots in Los Angeles.
During the hearing, Sen. Slotkin, who formerly worked for the Department of Defense and the CIA, asked Secretary Hegseth if he had authorized the military to “shoot at unarmed protestors in any way,” adding, “I’m just asking the question, don’t laugh like the whole country.” The secretary responded, “What is that based on? What evidence do you have that an order like that has ever been given?”
Continuing, Sen. Slotkin said that she was asking the question based on former Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s claim in his 2022 memoir that President Trump wanted him to shoot protestors in the legs during protests after the death of George Floyd. Sen. Slotkin told Secretary Hegseth, “It is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor, to a Republican Secretary of Defense, who I give a lot of credit to, because he didn’t accept the order.”
Next, Sen. Slotkin told Secretary Hegseth that she thought Esper “had more guts and balls than you” because he allegedly refused an order from President Trump to shoot at the legs of protestors. “He wrote that in his book,” Sen. Slotkin said. Continuing, the senator argued, “That’s not hearsay. So you’re pooh-poohing of this, it just shows you don’t understand who we are as a country.”
Then, the senator said that she was “worried” about Secretary Hegseth “tainting” the legacy of the military, adding, “Have you given the order? Have you given the order that they can use lethal force against — I want the answer to be no. Please tell me it’s no. Have you given the order?” In response, Secretary Hegseth wryly said, “Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books and believing it — except for the Bible.”
Clearly aggravated, Sen. Slotkin simply replied, “Oh my God,” before saying of Esper’s claims in his memoir, “I guess that’s not enough for you.” The senator then changed the subject, saying that there was a “cat fight” raging in the Republican Party about “whether to go after Iran.”
When the senator asked Secretary Hegseth if he had commissioned any “use of ground troops in Iran” or other forms of aid to Israel, she emphasized the cause of her concern, saying, “It’s the day after with Iraq and Afghanistan that so many of us have learned to be so deeply concerned about. Have you authorized day-after planning?’ The secretary simply responded, “As I’ve said, we have plans for everything.”
Watch the tense exchange:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video