War Secretary Pete Hegseth stopped by Washington’s Meridian Hill Park on Thursday morning to honor the National Guard troops deployed to the nation’s capital.
Hegseth, who appeared along with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House official Stephen Miller, addressed approximately 250 National Guard troops gathered around the newly renovated fountain amid the sweltering heat wave.
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“Thanks for waiting out here in the sun. I’m to blame. Sorry, I had a meeting go long. I never want to make a formation stand out any longer than it has to because I’ve stood in your formation before, waiting for somebody to show up, so I can get on and do my job,” Hegseth said, later adding that the protests are the “sound of ingrates, of ingratitude, of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them, that there’s nothing ideological about this group.”
He was greeted by dozens of protesters who were kept outside the park, though their chants could be heard during the officials’ remarks.
National Guard soldiers wait for the arrival of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force ceremony, Thursday, July 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) 
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addressed members of the National Guard’s Task Force DC. (Credit: Mike Brest) 
Members of the National Guard attend a “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” ceremony hosted by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images) 
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 02: Law enforcement members stand on the roof of a nearby apartment building before the arrival of U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at Meridian Hill Park on July 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. Hegseth and other members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration visited the park to speak to guard members and to tout the DC Safe And Beautiful Task Force. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) 
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 02: A protester carries a Palestinian flag near Meridian Hill Park before an event with members of the U.S National Guard and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on July 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. Hegseth and other members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration visited the park to speak to guard members and to tout the DC Safe And Beautiful Task Force. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) 
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force ceremony, Thursday, July 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) 
Protesters chant outside of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. during Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s address to members of the National Guard’s DC Task Force. 
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force ceremony, Thursday, July 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) 
(L/R) US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche attend a “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” ceremony with the National Guard at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images) 
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (L) speaks alongside White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (R) during a “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” ceremony with the National Guard at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
He continued: “There’s nothing political about this exercise. Law and order is something all Americans deserve, black, white, rich, poor, man or woman, from D.C. or far-flung places in this country. And the beautiful thing is, when I look out at that, this group, that’s all of you from all across this great country — you’re not from Washington, most of you, but this is your capital, and you believe in this 250th year that it should be safe.”
The secretary also honored and called for a moment of silence for the two National Guard officers who were shot in November. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries the next day, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded but survived.
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to several cities, including Los Angeles; D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Chicago; and New Orleans, primarily to handle unrest. There have been protests in several of the cities where they were deployed about their deployment orders.
NATIONAL GUARD DOMESTIC DEPLOYMENTS COULD COST MORE THAN $1 BILLION IN 2026
“It was just about one year ago today when President Trump said that he looked around this city, the capital of the greatest country in the history of civilization, and didn’t like what he saw,” Blanche said. “He didn’t like the crime, he didn’t like the way it looked, and he instructed us to do something about it. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
A Congressional Budget Office estimate from January found that continuing the deployments at their end-of-2025 size would cost about $93 million per month, and that deploying 1,000 National Guard personnel to a U.S. city in 2026 would cost $18 million to $21 million per month, depending largely on local cost-of-living differences.
