Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Hegseth reacts to concern that Trump administration applies double standard to protests
Posted
June 11, 2025
Views
36,022
Likes
317
Engagement
0.88%
June 11, 2025
36,022
317
0.88%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
2:29Now PlayingDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth would not directly answer a question from a Democratic lawmaker Wednesday about whether he supported the decision to activate the National Guard during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said during a budget subcommittee hearing that he wanted to give Hegseth a chance to respond to concerns that there was a double standard being applied by the administration to protests .
“The president, when he came into office, issued pardons to the individuals that attacked the United States Capitol, including those individuals who beat savagely police officers,” he said. “You have deployed the National Guard and readied Marines in a way that many people think is unnecessary given the state and the local resources.”
Murphy asked if Hegseth supported the National Guard being sent to defend the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“All I know is it's the right decision to be deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles to defend ICE agents who deserve to be defended in the execution of their jobs,” Hegseth said.
Murphy pressed again, adding that it was important for people to know “that you care about protest, whether it's against the president or on behalf of the president.”
Hegseth didn’t answer the senator’s question, but added that he was a part of the D.C. Army National Guard at that time and was initially ordered to guard President Joe Biden’s inauguration, but “because of the politicization of the Biden administration, my orders were revoked."
Murphy again asked if the defense secretary supported the decision on Jan. 6 to send the National Guard to the Capitol.
After some crosstalk, Murphy said Hegseth’s response “speaks to the worry that many Americans have that there is a double standard, that you are not willing to defend against attacks made on our democracy by supporters of the president, but you are willing to deploy the National Guard to protect against protesters who are criticizing the president.”
Hegseth has strongly defended President Donald Trump’s militarized response to the protests over federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities.
He told lawmakers Tuesday that the some 4,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines activated by the president are expected to stay in Los Angeles for 60 days. The mobilization will also cost the Defense Department roughly $134 million, said Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, Hegseth’s acting comptroller.
Congressional lawmakers, especially Democrats, are demanding that Hegseth provide more details around its fiscal year 2026 budget.
Newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
