The Latest: Hegseth declares an end to ‘politically correct’ leadership in the US military

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of U.S. military officials to an in-person meeting Tuesday to announce directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness as well as an end to “woke” culture in the military.

“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.

He said he's loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections.

Hegseth and President Donald Trump abruptly called military leaders from around the world to convene at a base in Virginia without publicly revealing the reason until Tuesday morning. While meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, experts say the scale of the gathering, the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it are particularly unusual.

Here's the latest:

Rights groups in New Orleans warned that bringing National Guard troops into the city would lead to the targeting and harassment of Black and immigrant communities. They were already organizing protests for what they described as a “military occupation.”

“The use of the our nation’s military for ‘law enforcement’ is not only immoral and unnecessary, it is illegal,” said Clare Leavy, chair of the group Indivisible New Orleans. “People of conscience must do everything possible to protect our communities from persecution and abuse.”

“We demand our elected officials who side with democracy to stand up alongside us with some real backbone in this fight,” said Toni Jones, chairwoman of the New Orleans Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “We say ‘No Trump, No Troops!’ and we will be in the streets to make our voices heard.”

Most New Orleans officials have bristled at the prospect of the National Guard roaming the city’s streets. But Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who faces federal corruption charges, responded placidly after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry requested Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth activate National Guard troops in the state’s major cities.

Terry Davis, a spokesperson for Cantrell, referred to a previous statement in which the city and the New Orleans Police Department expressed gratitude for the federal government’s role in improving public safety in the city.

“Our federal and state partnerships have played a significant role in ensuring public safety, particularly during special events for a world-class city,” the Sept. 3 statement said. “The City of New Orleans and NOPD remain committed to sustaining this momentum, ensuring that every neighborhood continues to feel the impact of these combined efforts.”

Internet users on Tuesday spotted a banner on the website for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that some argue breaches a law designed to limit political activity by federal employees.

The banner, which pops up when navigating to the website’s homepage, includes political messaging about the congressional standoff that will lead to a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if the two sides can’t agree.

“The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands,” the banner reads. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”

Some internet users suggested this would violate the Hatch Act, an 80-year-old law that restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A three-judge panel of Washington’s federal appeals court ruled veteran investigative reporter Catherine Herridge must testify about her source for a series of Fox News stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper held Herridge in civil contempt in 2024 after she refused to answer questions about her source in a deposition with the scientist’s lawyers. The judge imposed a fine of $800 a day until she reveals her source, through that has been on hold while she fought the case on appeal.

The appeals court panel rejected Herridge’s bid to reverse the contempt order and quash the subpoena, though it’s giving Herridge’s lawyers time to petition the full court to hear the case. After Fox, Herridge later worked for CBS but she now works as an independent investigative journalist.

The case has been being closely watched by media advocates, who say forcing journalists to betray a promise of confidentiality could make sources think twice before providing information to reporters that could expose government wrongdoing.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer clashed publicly Tuesday as tensions over a potential government shutdown spilled onto the Senate floor.

After Thune delivered his opening remarks, Schumer followed as Thune watched. Schumer accused Republicans of “trying to bully us,” and said “Thune did not come once to me and say is this bill acceptable.”

“That is not how you negotiate,” Schumer added, directly addressing Thune.

Thune pushed back during Schumer’s remarks, interjecting at one point: “The way we’ve done it, it’s a different business model than the one he used.”

Florida officials decided Tuesday to set aside nearly three acres of prime downtown Miami real estate next to the historic Freedom Tower as a potential site of the future presidential library of President Trump.

Flanked by glitzy condos and overlooking palm tree-lined Biscayne Bay, the property valued at $66 million is a developer’s dream, and will now be under the control of the foundation that’s planning the president’s post-administration archives. The foundation is led by the president’s son, Eric Trump, who applauded Tuesday’s vote by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, a collective body that oversees some state agencies and operations.

“It will be the greatest Presidential Library ever built, honoring the greatest President,” Eric Trump said in a social media post.

The property had been owned by state-run Miami Dade College, which had used the site as an employee parking lot.

Trump’s administration is launching a website for consumers to buy drugs directly instead of going through insurance, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Tuesday.

The White House will also announce that drugmaker Pfizer will lower prices on several medications in the U.S., she said on X. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The announcements come as Trump’s deadline imposed on drug companies to effectively lower their prices for Americans expired Monday. Some pharmaceutical trade groups have said they’re taking steps to invest in American manufacturing and address the causes of high drug costs, but it’s unclear if those commitments satisfy Trump’s demands.

Though the Biden administration inked deals with pharmaceutical companies to knock prices for some of Medicare’s costliest drugs, White House spokesperson Kush Desai argued only Trump is “actually walking the walk.”

“President Trump is doing more to lower healthcare costs than anyone else in Washington, D.C.,” he said in a statement.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would continue to try and have conversations Tuesday with the Trump administration and Republican counterparts on avoiding a government shutdown at the end of the day.

“But what we’re not going to do is be part of essentially a my way or the highway approach,” Jeffries said on CNBC as congressional leaders hit the airwaves in advance of a potential shutdown.

Democrats are demanding that Republicans include in the spending bill an extension of enhanced tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year for those who purchase coverage through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans have said that’s a policy issue that can be dealt with in later months, but Jeffries said Democrats weren’t going to support a bill that “continues to gut the health care of the American people.”

And Johnson said whether it shuts down after midnight is up to two people — Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House.

Johnson made his comments on a CNBC interview as congressional leaders hit the airwaves Tuesday morning to shape the messaging battles going into a likely shutdown.

Johnson said there are no partisan policy riders in the short-term funding patch that has failed to advance in the Senate after passing the House. He noted that Democrats routinely supported such resolutions during Joe Biden’s presidency.

“They don’t want to do it because they want to fight Trump,” Johnson said. “A lot of good people are going to be hurt because of this.”

The president spoke for an hour and 13 minutes on a variety of subjects.

About an hour into the speech, Trump got onto the subject of walking down stairs.

He said he goes “very slowly” because he doesn’t want to fall the way some other presidents have and have it become part of his legacy, too.

“I just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well,” Trump said.

He mentioned former President Joe Biden, who stumbled a few times on the stairs to Air Force One. Trump said he had “zero respect” for former President Barack Obama but liked how the former president went quickly up and down the stairs.

Trump has had his own issues with the Air Force One stairs, too.

As Democrats dig into their position in the government funding fight, they’re emphasizing the stories of people who depend on health care programs for their families.

Standing behind a lectern with a sign that says “Save healthcare,” Democrats were joined by a mother who depends on Medicaid to care for her sons with autism, a college professor who uses tax credits to afford health insurance and a nurse who warned that cuts to health care would endanger her patients.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says their stance is simple: “Cancel the cuts. Lower the cost. Save health care. That’s what this fight is all about.”

“Mr. President, allow me to re-introduce myself,” Jeffries said outside the Capitol. “I’m the House Democratic leader.”

Jeffries called the online video Trump released last night that dressed the leader up in cartoonish garb, a sombrero and faux mustache, “racist and fake.”

He was surrounded by lawmakers and said he represents a more than 200-strong Democratic caucus in the U.S. House.

Trump had posted the video the evening after their first-ever meeting at the White House.

Jeffries then said: Next time I’m in the Oval Office, “say it to my face.”

Although the military is designed to handle foreign threats, the president emphasized his vision of using it for domestic purposes.

“It’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control,” he said.

Trump’s remarks referred to criminals and immigrants who are in the country illegally. He also complained about “insurrectionists” who are funded by “the radical left.”

“Many of our leaders used our military to keep peace,” he said.

“We are in this fight until we win this fight,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

Flanked by some 100 lawmakers he described as having grit, intellect and heart as they push for health care funding, with just hours to go before a potential shutdown, Jeffries said they are in the fight, “For the people.”

The president’s declaration came during a litany of complaints about crime in places under Democratic leadership.

“I told Pete,” referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said.

The president has already demonstrated an eagerness to deploy troops against U.S. citizens, including deployments of the National Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles earlier this year.

He said “we’re going into Chicago very soon,” something he’s threatened before without acting on.

The president is used to boisterous crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and applaud his boasts. But he’s not getting that kind of soundtrack from generals and admirals.

In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, military leaders sat mostly stone-faced through Trump’s politicized remarks.

It’s a shift from when rank-and-file soldiers cheered during Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg earlier this year.

Canada popped back into Trump’s head when he brought up the Golden Dome missile defense program he wants to build to protect the United States.

Trump said Canada called him recently asking to be covered by the proposed missile shield.

“They want to be a part of it,” he said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you just join our country, become the 51st state and you get it for free.’”

Earlier in the year, Trump had been pressuring Canada to join the United States as he threatened it with steep tariffs. Canada said it will never join the U.S.

The president’s speech meandered through many of his standard talking points. He criticized President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to sign documents, complained that he’s unlikely to win a Nobel Peace Price and talked about how much he loves tariffs.

It was typical for Trump, apart from the fact that his audience was an unusual gathering of top military leaders.

The president also mused about building more battleships, which are largely considered outdated.

“Some people would say, that’s old technology,” Trump said. “I don’t know, I don’t think it’s old technology, when you look at those guns.”

Trump was speaking to the military leaders about the wars he claims to have solved, saying he’ll be up to eight in eight months if Hamas signs onto a peace plan he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly agreed to the day before.

But instead of being awarded the prestigious prize for his peace-making efforts, Trump said the Nobel committee will give it to someone who hasn’t done a thing.

“We’ll see what happens, but it will be a big insult to our country,” he said.

Trump then claimed to not want the prize, saying, “I want the country to get it” but said “I should get it” because no one has ever solved as many wars as he claims to have ended.

“We’re a team,” Trump said. “And so my message to you is very simple: I am with you. I support you and, as president, I have your backs 100%.”

“You’ll never see me even waver a little bit. That’s the way it is,” the president said.

That applies to police officers and firefighters, too, he said.

Trump opened by telling the leaders what a “great honor” it is to serve as their commander in chief.

He also commended their “unwavering devotion” to the armed forces and the country.

Trump added that they’re “incredible people” who look like they’re straight out of “central casting.”

The stop, at Utah State University in Logan, is about two hours north of Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed Sept. 10 by a gunman who fired a single shot through the crowd while Kirk was speaking.

Kirk was a top Trump ally and figure in his Make America Great Again movement. His death has galvanized conservatives, who’ve vowed to carry on Kirk’s mission of encouraging young voters to embrace conservatism and moving American politics further right.

Tuesday’s event, which was scheduled before Kirk’s death, will showcase how Turning Point is finding its path forward without Kirk.

The college tour is now being headlined by some of the biggest conservative names, including Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Glenn Beck.

Tuesday’s event will feature conservative podcast host Alex Clark and a panel with Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Andy Biggs, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Gov. Spencer Cox.

▶ Read more about the Turning Point event

“Hamas is either going to be doing it or not,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for Quantico to address a gathering of senior military brass. “And if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end.”

The president added there was “not much” room for Hamas to negotiate under terms of his latest peace proposal that he unveiled Monday.

Qatari and Egyptian officials have presented the 20-point proposal to Hamas negotiators, who are now reviewing it.

He said the department has been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” which he called an “insane fallacy.”

“They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQ+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal,” he said, adding the use of electric tanks and the COVID-vaccine requirements to the list as mistaken policies.

“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”

Hegseth said the Pentagon’s watchdog has been “weaponized” and therefore will be retooled with new policies.

There will be more anonymous or frivolous complaints, Hegseth said, nicknaming his new directive the “no more walking on eggshells policy.”

The announcement comes amid an ongoing investigation by the inspector general’s office into Hegseth’s team and its use of the Signal encrypted messaging app. Earlier this year, a report in The Atlantic showed Hegseth shared sensitive military information in a chat that included senior national security officials and a journalist.

Hegseth said the Pentagon will add a combat field test for certain units that resemble the Army’s expert physical fitness assessment or the Marine Corps combat fitness test. Hegseth said every member of the joint force will be required to meet height and weight requirements.

“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said.

Hegseth maintained, as he has done in the past, that he would not allow facial hair.

“No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” Hegseth said. “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans.”

Hegseth’s address has largely focused on his own long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by so-called “woke” policies.

“The military has been forced by foolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things,” Hegseth argued, before adding that his speech “is about fixing decades of decay, some of it obvious, some of it hidden.”

Hegseth used the platform to slam topics like physical fitness and grooming standards, environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up well-worn ideas like “the warrior ethos” and “peace through strength.”

Hegseth said concerns over “toxic leadership” have been misrepresented in the military, demanding a new review.

“We’re undertaking a full review of the department’s definitions of so-called ‘toxic leadership,’ bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing,” he said.

Hegseth defended his own leadership and demand for high standards as “not toxic.” He said that while “nasty” bullying and hazing still won’t be allowed, the terms were weaponized in previous administrations.

The defense secretary is announcing a variety of directives that he argues will help clear out what he calls “woke garbage” in the nation’s military.

Hegseth said there will be a new requirement for every combat arms to use the highest male standard only. He also announced a new combat field test.

“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,” he said. “This job is life and death. Standards must be met.”

A second detainee shot in an attack on a Dallas immigration field office last week has died, his family said Tuesday.

In a statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens, the family confirmed that Miguel Ángel García-Hernández, 32, succumbed to his injuries after being removed from life support.

The Mexican man was one of three detainees shot in the Sept. 24 attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas. That attack left one man dead and two other detainees critically wounded. Officials previously identified the man who was killed in the attack as Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.

▶ Read more about the attack on the Dallas ICE facility

The defense secretary is using phrases he often does, referring to warfighting and a “warrior ethos” during the beginning of his remarks.

Saying the era of the Department of Defense is over, he said “preparing to win” is the goal as the Trump administration wants to rebrand to the Department of War.

“Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the War Department,” he said.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, kicked off a gathering of military leaders standing before a giant American flag by saying that “we are living in dynamic and potentially dangerous times.”

“Even as we strive for and seek peace, we must be prepared for war,” Caine said.

On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of display stands Patel presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.

Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license. Law enforcement agencies didn’t specify whether the officials who met with Patel held such permits, but they couldn’t have legally kept the gifts if they didn’t.

It wasn’t clear what permissions Patel had sought to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Patel told the AP Tuesday that the FBI would not comment.

▶ Read more about the 3D-printed weapons

Iran said Tuesday that 120 Iranians detained in the United States for illegally entering the country will be returned to Iran in the coming days.

As many as 400 Iranians would be returning to Iran as part of the deal with the U.S., Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Noushabadi, director-general for parliamentary affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry. He said the majority of those people had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.

The U.S. has not acknowledged striking a deportation deal with Iran.

▶ Read more about the reported deportation plan