Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharply criticized Minnesota Democratic Governor and failed vice president candidate Tim Walz for his handling of the 2020 Minneapolis riots while defending the deployment of National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to protect against violent anti-ICE protests.

In a hearing on Capitol Hill, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) noted how both she and Hegseth are from Minnesota and claimed President Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles was “premature and escalatory,” insisting the situation in 2020 was “more volatile” when Walz called in the National Guard. Hegseth fired back after the congresswoman got to asking how the deployment in L.A. affected the defense budget and duties.

???? WATCH: @SecDef calmly dismantles Minnesota Rep. @BettyMcCollum04 when she tries to grill him on the cost of deploying National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles:

“I recall 2020 quite well when @GovTimWalz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground…… pic.twitter.com/tltKWcgBEQ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 10, 2025

“You are right, we are both originally from Minnesota. Which is why I recall 2020 quite well, when Governor Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground — and also allowed five days of chaos to occur inside the streets of Minneapolis,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth took a swipe at California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who sued Trump, Hegseth, and the Department of Defense over the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles because he did not request it.

“The police precinct, ma’am, was abandoned and burned to the ground. And because of that, the National Guard was eventually — far too late — mobilized. And President Trump recognizes a situation like that improperly handled by a governor — like it was by Governor Walz — if it gets out of control, is a bad situation for the citizens of any location,” Hegseth said.

He added, “So in Los Angeles, we believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed into our country in the previous administration. ICE ought to be able to do its job whether it’s Minneapolis or Los Angeles.”

McCollum tried stopping Hegseth, complaining that she had limited time and wanted to keep the focus on the budget — even though she had been the one to bring up the priority of the troop deployment to Los Angeles and Walz’s response to the Minneapolis riots.

“You asked about the situation in Los Angeles, and we believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations,” Hegseth said. “And we have deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their duties, because we ought [to] be able to enforce immigration law in this country, unlike Governor Walz did in 2020.”