WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday to confirm he won鈥檛 send U.S. troops to polling places during November鈥檚 midterm elections, as that the Trump administration could use the military to interfere with the vote.
鈥淚鈥檇 ask you to confirm a simple statement: the Department of Defense will not send Federal troops to the polls or to seize election materials of any kind,鈥� Slotkin wrote to Hegseth and to Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in letters Tuesday.
The Pentagon said in an email that it will respond directly to Slotkin, as it does with all congressional correspondence. The Joint Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Slotkin told The Associated Press that Trump has been laying the groundwork to claim the midterms were stolen. She noted that Trump to after his loss in 2020 and has deployed the National Guard to cities of Democratic leaders. He also to Los Angeles during his immigration crackdown in 2025.
鈥淗e鈥檚 very clearly laying the breadcrumbs to be able to say the day after the election that he didn鈥檛 really lose the House or he didn鈥檛 really lose the Senate,鈥� Slotkin said.
during an April congressional hearing if he would follow orders to seize ballots. Hegseth called the question a 鈥済otcha hypothetical,鈥� but said, 鈥淚鈥檝e never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won鈥檛.鈥�
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles denied in a last year that Trump would use the military to suppress voting in the midterms.
鈥淚 say it is categorically false, will not happen. It鈥檚 just wrongheaded,鈥� she said.
the deployment of armed federal forces to election locations unless 鈥渘ecessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.鈥� If any element of the military were to get involved, under state control.
In 2020, Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to a similar letter from Slotkin, then a congresswoman.
鈥淚 believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,鈥� . 鈥淚n the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military.”
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