Hegseth Can’t Answer Key Question on Trump Power to Deploy Marines

Donald Trump ordered 700 Marines to Los Angeles, and the defense secretary can’t explain what authority enabled him to do so.

In a terse exchange with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin Wednesday, Pete Hegseth couldn’t cite any portion of the Constitution that might allow the president to send troops to engage U.S. citizens.

“Just specifically, Mr. Secretary, what is the authority that the administration is using to deploy active-duty Marines to California neighborhoods? What authority?” Baldwin asked.

“Senator, the president has constitutional authority in order to support—” Hegseth began, before Baldwin interjected, asking for a specific “provision of the Constitution” that gave Trump such power.

But Hegseth wasn’t able to, instead asking Congress to offer their blind faith that the administration had pre-verified the constitutionality of such an action.

“I’d have to pull up the specific provision, but our Office of General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured in the order that we set out that it’s completely constitutional for the president to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement,” Hegseth said.

“I’d like to know the specific constitutional statutory authority,” Baldwin pressed. “The president made it clear that he relied on Section 12406 of Title 10 with regard to the National Guard troops. I need to know the authority that he is relying upon in terms of active-duty Marines being deployed to California neighborhoods.”

Baldwin then asked Hegseth if he would follow up to provide the exact statute, to which he responded that there’s “plenty of precedent” in administering active duty troops to “support law enforcement.”

“I’m not disputing that,” Baldwin said. “I am just asking you to cite the authority under which the active duty Marines are being deployed to California.”

Hegseth insisted that the appropriate statute was cited in the executive order, and then promised to follow up with Baldwin’s office.

Trump’s decision to send hundreds of Marines to the City of Angels is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $134 million, defense officials revealed Tuesday. Their presence—per the White House—is intended to support ICE agents as they conduct mass deportation raids of the city while thousands of locals protest the president’s agenda.

But the order itself appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law dating back to 1878 that forbids the government from using the military for law enforcement purposes. The White House could have bypassed the military doctrine by invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to utilize the military during periods of rebellion or mass civil unrest, but had not done so by the time of the order. (Trump has openly discussed leveraging the nineteenth-century law to enact his agenda since his inauguration.)

Trump’s chaotic, spite-filled policies on trade and aid have led traditional allies to look elsewhere and form stronger ties among themselves.

The New York Times reports that traditional allies like Japan, Britain, Canada, France, and others are working more closely together as they look to build an alliance system without the United States. These new alliances are already yielding results. Canada, Britain, and the EU just made a $170 billion defense deal. Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Norway just placed significant sanctions on two far-right Israeli Cabinet members. The deals made in recent weeks demonstrate the erosion of U.S. diplomatic legitimacy that Trump’s shirking of traditional Western order has caused—a troubling  message, as the G7 summit is just days away.

“These are countries that share the broad policy goal of predictable, rules-based international affairs—obviously a goal that is no longer shared by the Trump administration,” Peterson Institute for International Economics senior fellow Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, told the Times. “America first means America first,” he added, “even if it means America more alone.”

G7 organizers have planned various meetings without the United States, as Trump will arrive at the summit at odds on trade and tariffs with essentially every other leader there. “Should we, in some ways, talk about a G6-plus-one?” Kirkegaard said. 

In an instance of exceptional depravity, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a pregnant U.S. citizen just days before her due date, NBC News reported Tuesday.

Cary López Alvarado was detained by masked ICE agents Sunday, who claimed that she was obstructing an arrest of her partner and his co-worker, two undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, during a raid in Hawthorne, a city in Los Angeles County.

López Alvarado and her cousin Alberto Sandoval, who is also a citizen, were opening a gate to allow their truck into the parking lot of a private building when ICE agents arrived.

“They had us all surrounded,” she told NBC News in an interview from a hospital bed, her voice breaking. After being released by ICE shortly after her arrest, López Alvarado experienced sharp pains in her stomach, and was admitted to the hospital.

“I had lost my balance,” she tearfully told NBC. “He was kind of shoving me away from the door, and uh, that’s when I kind of just like leaned forward because I was kind of trying to protect the stomach.”

In a video of the incident obtained by the outlet, neighbors could be heard shouting “Let her go,” and She’s pregnant!”

In one video, López Alvarado can be heard explaining to the agents that they could not enter private property. The agents told her that the parking wasn’t private property, and that she was impeding their arrest, she said. “I wasn’t resisting or anything,” she said. “I can’t fight back; I’m pregnant.”

When López Alvarado tried to tell the officers that she was due June 17, she said they responded, “‘OK, your baby is going to be born here, but you’re from Mexico, right?’ And I told them no.”

López Alvarado told Telemundo 52 in Spanish that she was born in Los Angeles.

As part of its inhumane crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has readily arrested U.S. citizens, deported families, and endangered sick children, leaving hollow promises to target individuals with criminal records in the rearview.

In a statement to NBC News, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that López Alvarado had been detained because she allegedly “obstructed federal law enforcement by blocking access to a car that had two Guatemalan illegal aliens in it.”

The statement claimed that the ICE agents had been assaulted during the incident and that “rioters” had thrown wrenches and batteries at the agents.

Sandoval still faces assault charges, though his mother, María Alvarado, told Telemundo 52 that he was innocent, and there was proof. “My son didn’t attack. He was attacked. There are videos. There’s evidence,” she said in Spanish.

A recent series of ICE arrests in Los Angeles have sparked massive protests there, and the Trump administration has been quick to fan the flames of unrest by calling in the National Guard and U.S. Marines, in possible violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. California has already moved to sue Trump for overreaching his authority, and California Governor Gavin Newsom warned Wednesday that the president had placed democracy “under assault.”

The Trump administration is losing its ability to hide its pro-Russia affinities.

In a searing exchange with Senator Mitch McConnell Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed the mental gymnastics at play as administration officials take a soft approach on Russia amid its ongoing war on Ukraine.

“Number one, who’s the aggressor and who’s the victim in the conflict?” asked McConnell.

“Russia is the aggressor,” Hegseth said, quietly.

“Which side do you want to win?” McConnell said.

But the defense secretary couldn’t provide a simple answer for that.

“As we’ve said time and time again, this president is committed to peace in that conflict. Ultimately, peace serves our national interests, and we think the interest of both parties, even if that outcome will not be preferable to many in this room and many in our country,” Hegseth said.

“Which side is President Xi pulling for?” continued McConnell.

That question tripped up the former Fox News anchor even more. After providing a complicated answer in which he pointed fingers at the Biden administration’s policies, Hegseth eventually conceded that China and its leadership would prefer Russia to win in the Ukrainian conflict.

“One thing I’m sure we agree on is that we don’t want a headline at the end of this conflict that says ‘Russia Wins and America Loses,’” McConnell said. “And given the fact that all of our adversaries are communicating with each other, that’s extremely important if we’re going to continue to play the role in the world that the vast majority of members of Congress think we should still play. Particularly now that our adversaries are more significant than they have been since the Berlin Wall came down.”

The White House has played a weaker and weaker hand in its game against Russia since Trump’s inauguration. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to end the war within days of returning to power—but that hasn’t been the case.

Instead, Trump’s heavy hand on Ukraine and his repeated concessions toward Russia’s enduring violence have been interpreted by Kremlin propagandists as a massive win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, resulting in televised laughter on Russian programs at the downfall of American power. In the months since he took office, Trump has claimed that Russia has come ready and willing to reach a peace deal, even though many of its demands—such as staking a Russian flag in Crimea—reverse long-standing U.S. policy.

Following a deadly airstrike on Kyiv last month, European leaders urged Western countries to enact sanctions on Moscow as a way to reel Putin back to the negotiating table. But Trump responded by wringing his hands, claiming that applying pressure on Russia would “hurt” a deal.

Just about everyone in the U.S.—including Trump’s own party—wants the White House to act. By late May, Senate Republicans resorted to begging Trump to take a stand against Russia while they mulled over the possibility of going over his head to enact the internationally recommended sanctions. Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced last week that the upper chamber would begin work on a sanctions bill sometime this month.

More militant ICE raids are coming to a city near you.

The Trump administration is readying tactical ICE units known as “special response teams” to conduct large raids in five Democratic cities, according to MSNBC. They will be in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and northern Virginia. While it’s unclear when exactly the raids will start, all ICE agents in those areas have been told to stand by.

This is going to be a mess. Trump’s crackdown in Los Angeles—with thousands of National Guardsmen and hundreds of Marines patrolling the streets—is the model for his larger deportation campaign: Have ICE pour into a community and make indiscriminate arrests, then when civilians predictably resist, use that to justify sending even more militant forces in to quell the chaos that ICE induced. New York City is already on edge, as 80 protestors were arrested in Lower Manhattan Tuesday night at an anti-ICE protest.

“’Look, this isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles, when Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard. He made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes, this moment we have feared has arrived.’” He’s right. ICE is planning to expand its campaign of terror to blue cities across the country. If Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”—which includes billions in funding for a mass deportation campaign—passes, it will get even worse.

Elon Musk has come crawling on his hands and knees back to Donald Trump.

The antagonistic technocrat gave a public apology for his harsh words directed at his ally in the White House, in a post on X at 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” he wrote.

But Musk hadn’t simply criticized Trump’s policies during their messy public break.

Musk had implied that Trump was implicated in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and alleged human trafficker, and that was why his administration was soft-footing the release of the so-called Epstein files. He’d even backed calls for Trump’s impeachment. In doing so, the billionaire set himself adrift from the MAGA crowd that had readily embraced him.

Obviously, the internet was more than a little curious about which posts Musk regretted and why he’d decided to walk back his hard turn away from Trump.

To some the answer seemed obvious: His feud had cost him too much money.

Others speculated that Musk had decided he’d drawn the public’s attention to his own close relationship to Epstein’s associates.

It’s clear that Musk has been trying to turn the ship on his departure from Trump’s good graces, cheerleading the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration protests in Los Angeles. In a podcast interview earlier this week, Musk declared that he had “no hard feelings” about Trump, and sources close to Musk told Reuters that his anger at the president had subsided and he may want to rekindle their connection.

Congressional Republicans aren’t sticking around to watch Donald Trump blow millions of taxpayer dollars on himself this weekend.

Just seven of 50 surveyed GOP lawmakers are planning to actually attend the president’s birthday festivities over the weekend, reported Politico.

Trump’s 79th birthday coincides with the Army’s 250th anniversary. To celebrate, the president is throwing himself—and the U.S. military—a parade and festival that Army officials estimate could cost up to $45 million, with millions in damages to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Those sticking around include some of Trump’s most stalwart MAGA supporters: Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (who told Politico “of course” she’d be there), Byron Donalds, and Elise Stefanik are all planning to celebrate. Representatives Cory Mills, Rich McCormick, John McGuire, and Lisa McClain are also expected to be in attendance.

But the list of those planning to skip is much longer. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso won’t be in town, nor will House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Senator Tommy Tuberville excused himself to continue his campaign for Alabama’s gubernatorial race, while Senator Markwayne Mullin said the date coincides with his anniversary, reported Politico. Speaker Mike Johnson’s office wouldn’t comment.

Notable veterans are also planning to sit this one out. Senator Lindsey Graham said he’s not planning to attend, and Senators Todd Young, Rick Scott, and Tim Sheehy won’t be there either. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast told Politico that he hadn’t made up his mind as to whether he’ll be there.

And the chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, Representative Mike Rogers and Senator Roger Wicker, won’t be around, either. Instead, they’re planning to be at another airshow scheduled for next week in Paris, where defense contractors will gather for an annual conference.

Trump has wanted a military parade for himself since at least 2018, but the idea was quickly shot down by local and military officials who cited enormous estimated damages to Pennsylvania Avenue, torching the hefty price tag involved in dragging heavy equipment through the U.S. capital. The president was reportedly inspired after watching a Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017.

“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen.… We’re gonna have to try and top it,” Trump said at the time, “but we had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might, and it was really a beautiful thing to see.”

The parade will include 6,600 soldiers who will represent every era of the Army’s history. It will also showcase some 150 vehicles as 50 aircraft, including 26 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 27 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, two World War II Sherman tanks, a World War I–era Renault tank, eight CH-47 helicopters, 16 UH-60 Black Hawks, and four World War II–era P-51 aircraft, Army officials told CBS News.

The plan was not always to have a march that big. In February, the Army put out a press release indicating that it intended to celebrate its anniversary “with a series of commemorations, including leadership engagements, community outreach events and other events showcasing Army units, history, lineage and esprit de corps.” It did not make mention of a parade.

Donald Trump says he’s finally cracked a tentative deal with China—but why doesn’t it sound any good?

Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday morning that a long-awaited trade deal had finally materialized, though it was still subject to “final approval” by Chinese President Xi Jinping and himself, and indicated that the U.S. would impose a 55 percent tariff on Chinese goods, while China would impose a 10 percent tariff.

While these numbers are significant deescalations from the whopping 145 percent tariff Trump had levied on Chinese exports and the 125 percent tariff rate on U.S. exports China imposed in response, Trump’s deal still leaves something to be desired.

Before Trump entered office, China and the U.S. both had roughly 20 percent tariffs on exports from each other’s countries. In an initial agreement last month, the U.S. had agreed to lower rates to 30 percent and China had lowered to 10 percent, before Trump blew up the deal.

So while the U.S. will still have to pay more for Chinese goods—a policy that will ultimately raise prices for American consumers—it seems that China has struck a deal to pay even less for American goods than it did before Trump was in office.

Meanwhile the other terms of that deal seemed to provide assets both countries had before Trump’s ridiculous trade war.

“FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA,” Trump wrote.

China’s grip on rare earths had provided it with a lot of leverage in negotiations with the United States. When Trump first levied his astronomically high tariffs on China, Beijing essentially shut down exports, and even after it agreed to a truce, in Geneva last month, Beijing still required companies to purchase special licenses to buy them, placing a particular strain on robotics and defense companies.

In return for resuming the supply of rare earths, the U.S. would allow Chinese students to attend American universities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced late last month that he would begin “aggressively” revoking the student visas of Chinese students, claiming concerns over national security. As one could probably assume, the purported threat posed by these students was never real but a bargaining chip for the Trump administration.

Trump noted that allowing Chinese students to study at American universities has “ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!”

Democracy is “under assault” under Donald Trump’s leadership, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

In a nearly nine-minute address to his state and to the nation Tuesday evening, Newsom warned that the president’s choice to manhandle Los Angeles, without any input from the government or people of California, indicates a leader on the verge of authoritarianism.

“If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe,” Newsom said. “Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.

“Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control,” he continued. “And by the way, Trump, he’s not opposed to lawlessness and violence as long as it serves him. What more evidence do we need than January 6?”

Thousands of locals flooded the streets of Los Angeles over the weekend in a stunning visual protest of the president’s agenda. Protesters blocked off a major freeway, trashed Waymos (self-driving cars), and organized outside of City Hall and the Metropolitan Detention Center. In reaction, law enforcement officials shot rubber bullets and fired tear gas and flash bangs into crowds of civilians. The FBI added protesters suspected of throwing rocks at police cars to its Most Wanted list and ominously threatened to intervene in the anti-Trump display without guidance from California or the White House.

California sued the federal government Monday to roll back Trump’s deployment of 4,100 National Guard members that state authorities said had not been authorized or requested to handle the protests—an order that Newsom slammed Tuesday night as “illegal” and a “brazen abuse of power” that “inflamed a combustible situation.”

“When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard. he made that order apply to every state in this nation,” Newsom said. “This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”

In another decision that nobody responsible for overseeing peace in Los Angeles wanted, Trump additionally deployed 700 Marines to the City of Angels, an initiative that Defense officials revealed Tuesday would cost U.S. taxpayers $134 million.

Trump also endorsed threats to arrest Newsom when the California governor began to hit back, telling reporters that he’d “do it.”

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes; this moment we have feared has arrived. He’s taking a wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our Founding Fathers’ historic project: three coequal branches of independent government,” Newsom continued.

“The Founding Fathers didn’t live and die to see this kind of moment,” Newsom said, urging Americans to “stand up” to the Trump administration’s aggressive control. “I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear,” he continued. “But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence: to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”

President Trump declared that anyone who protests his military/birthday parade—even peacefully—will be met with “very heavy force.” 

“We’re celebrating big on Saturday … if there’s any protest that wants to come out they will be met with very big force. And by the way, for those people who wanna protest, they’re gonna be met with very big force,” Trump said, repeating himself. “And I haven’t even heard about a protest, but, you know, these are people that hate our country. But they will be met with very heavy force.” 

This is the president saying that he will crush anyone who dares to use their First Amendment right to speak out against a lavish display of power—6,700 soldiers, 50 in-air helicopters, 34 horses, and 28 massive 70-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks—that will cost more than  $45 million in taxpayer dollars. His threats of “very heavy force” are entirely credible, given his gleeful deployment of thousands of National Guardsmen and Marines (who were without rules of engagement at the time) into Los Angeles without the consent of the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, or the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, after protesters interfered with ICE roundups.

As far as protests go, there are at least 1,500 massive “No Kings Day” actions planned for the afternoon of Trump’s parade, June 14, in Washington, D.C. and across the country. There are signs that the president’s bombastic response in Los Angeles is causing the number of those who intend to attend a protest on Saturday to increase.

“This country doesn’t belong to a king—and we’re not letting him throw himself a parade funded by tens of millions of our taxpayer dollars while stealing from us and stripping away our rights, our freedoms, and the programs our families rely on,” said Indivisible, the organization organizing the actions. “On June 14th, we’re coming together to send one clear message: No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.”

Trump is itching to brutalize dissenters, and his history suggests that he is more than willing to send orders to do so, especially in the nation’s capital. Saturday has the potential to be disastrous.