During a House Armed Services budget hearing on June 12, California Representative Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara was on the offense during his questioning of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, repeatedly pressing him to give yes or no answers to questions about the Signal group chat, the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, and Ukraine. Finally, frustrated by the lack of straight answers, Carbajal told Hegseth he was “unfit to lead” and “should just get the hell out and let somebody competently lead this department.”
Hegseth has met with lawmakers repeatedly as next year’s defense budget is being hashed out, receiving criticism for the scarcity of details. At the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Joint Chief of Staff Chair General Dan Caine if Vladimir Putin would stop at Ukraine. “I don’t believe he is,” Caine said, according to a report in The Hill. By contrast, Hegseth answered, “It remains to be seen.” Hegseth also faced fire from Dick Durbin (D-IL) over Saturday’s military parade’s projected cost of $45 million, while Patty Murray (D-WA) told Hegseth that using National Guard and Marines against civilians was “unconstitutional, and it is downright un-American.”
During his questioning on Thursday, Carbajal took issue with Hegseth’s use of a compromised Signal group chat in March to give sensitive information about an attack on Houthi targets. Carbajal told Hegseth he had shared classified information, broken the law, and endangered the lives of service members. “This alone makes you unfit to be the Secretary of Defense,” Carbajal said.
In asking whether the U.S. should support Ukraine against Russia, “a nation hostile to the United State,” Carbajal again insisted on a yes or no answer as Hegseth spoke of peace and billions of dollars spent. Carbajal told him any kindergartner could answer yes or no and that Hegseth’s inability to lead was an embarrassment to the United States
Giving his background as a U.S. Marine — Carbajal served in the Marine Reserve during the Gulf War — the congressmember stated that Marines were trained as warfighters, not to do crowd control. As for standing guard in Los Angeles, Carbajal said he was concerned that armed troops sent by Trump escalated the situation purposefully, “politicizing our armed forces in the process” for what he called political theater.
Calling the secretary by his last name only, Carbajal asked if Marines in Los Angeles were to keep the peace “by any means necessary,” saying he wanted “just a yes or no” when Hegseth attempted to make a statement. He reminded the Fox News host, “This isn’t Fox anymore.” In answer to whether the Marines could fire warning shots, Hegseth said, “No.” Carbajal replied, “Now, that’s more like it. Isn’t that easy?”
The next question was whether those serving the nation were required to have allegiance to Trump. Hegseth began to say he was “incredibly proud…,” but Carbajal cut him off. “Not today, Hegseth. Yes or no.”
The lack of an yes or no answer then led Carbajal to say, “You know what? I’m not going to waste my time anymore. You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions,” he told Hegseth. “You’re an embarrassment to this country, you’re unfit to lead, and there’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation.”
“You should just get the hell out and let somebody competently lead this department.”
Thursday morning’s heated exchange between Carbajal and Hegseth was soon eclipsed, however, by an even more shocking spectacle when federal agents forcibly removed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from a Homeland Security press conference in L.A., pushing him to the ground and handcuffing him. Padilla was released soon after. The incident was widely criticized by California Democrats, including Carbajal.
“Senator Padilla went to Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s open press conference and was violently assaulted for asking questions on behalf of his constituents,” Carbajal wrote in a post on social media on Thursday. “This is beyond unacceptable and DHS must be held accountable.”
[Update: June 12, 2025, 7:23pm] In issuing a temporary restraining order, a federal judge has said that President Trump’s calling up the California National Guard was “illegal,” Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on June 12. Control of the guard reverts to Governor Gavin Newsom at noon on Friday, June 13. The Trump administration has filed an appeal.
Bonta stated that this is not the end of the lawsuit, which still must determine if the president acted legally or not in taking control of California’s Guard.
During a press conference, Bonta explained that Trump relied on a law based on rebellion and threat of foreign invasion, pointing out that neither existed this week; the Los Angeles protests were “only inflamed” by the arrival of the troops. Bonta noted that a number of retired military brass had supported the state’s lawsuit in an amicus brief filed on the unlawful deployment. “This is far from the end of the road,” Bonta said, adding that protests must be lawful and peaceful.
While taking questions from reporters, Bonta described the Trump administration’s MO to be the taking of unlawful actions “because they like the power it gives them. They’ll say there’s a rebellion or an invasion or an insurrection because it triggers more executive authority. That’s really the end goal for them.”
The temporary restraining order does not address the movement of Marines from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles.
[Update: June 14, 2025] An appeals court has ordered a delay in moving control of the California National Guard from the federal government back to the state, a ruling that came on Friday afternoon, after the turnover was to take place that noon. The troops remain in federal control, with another hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Both the 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines are apparently under the command of Major General Scott Sherman of the National Guard, according to a report from AP While Sherman said about 500 of the Guard have been training to accompany immigration agents on raids, about 700 Marines have been in civil disturbance training, the AP reported.
