Hegseth, McCollum spar over L.A. riots, response to unrest after George Floyd murder

WASHINGTON — Betty McCollum, the Twin Cities Democrat, opened a hearing on the defense budget Tuesday by sharply questioning fellow Minnesotan Pete Hegseth over the Trump administration’s response to demonstrations in Los Angeles and how the federal government was paying for it.

Hegseth, the secretary of defense and a Forest Lake native, responded in kind as the sparring turned toward the response to the civil unrest in Minneapolis following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police.

McCollum asked Hegseth about the deployment of U.S. Marines and the federalizing of the California National Guard to face off in the streets of Los Angeles against anti-ICE protesters, by invoking the shared memory of Minneapolis in 2020.

“I was in the Twin Cities during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd,” McCollum said. “At no point did we need ... the Marines to be deployed.”

The longtime Democratic congresswoman said local and state law enforcement were better situated to handle crowd control.

“This looks nothing like the George Floyd protest or the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992,” McCollum said. “This is a deeply unfair position to put our Marines in.”

As Hegseth answered, the budget hearing was at least temporarily derailed.

“You are right,” Hegseth said. “We are both originally from Minnesota, which is why I recall 2020 quite well, when Governor [Tim] Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground.”

McCollum interrupted, attempting to direct Hegseth back to the budgetary question.

But Hegseth continued, characterizing the days following Floyd’s death as “chaos” and lamenting the timing of Walz’s deployment of the National Guard.

“President Trump recognizes a situation like that improperly handled by a governor ... is a bad situation for the citizens of any location,” Hegseth said.

McCollum implored the committee’s chair, Rep. Ken Calvert, a California Republican, to redirect the witness.

“I asked about the budget,” McCollum said, repeatedly. “Where are you pulling the money from?”

Calvert prompted Hegseth, saying, “Let us know.”

“We will have the capability to cover down on contingencies,” Hegseth said, “especially one as important as maintaining law and order in a major American city.”

This is Hegseth’s inaugural oversight hearing before the defense appropriations subcommittee. Later in the day, the committee will begin to mark up the 2026 budget.

As of Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump had deployed roughly 700 active-duty Marines, as well as thousands of National Guard troops, to Los Angeles to quell rioting and support federal immigration authorities conducting deportation raids. California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, have derided what they call an escalation by federal authorities.

Under questioning from Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat, a Defense undersecretary said the 60-day deployment would cost about $134 million in travel, housing and food.

Lawmakers also asked Hegseth about the infamous Signal chat, when Hegseth distributed military attack information to top Trump officials and a journalist via instant message, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Trump administration’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

Hegseth said the defense system, which has yet to be outlined, will be “mission capable by the end of [Trump’s] term.“

The oversight hearing came just hours before Hegseth was to meet Trump at Fort Bragg, which had been renamed to Fort Liberty under President Joe Biden to avoid memorializing a Confederate general. On Saturday, Trump will celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary with a military parade near the White House.