Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, was slapped down by a Department of Defense social media post Wednesday after she misrepresented what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee about obeying court orders.
Hirono was questioning Hegseth about the recent riots in Los Angeles and attempted to paint him into a corner, offering only partisan hypothetical questions intended to smear President Donald Trump.
After refusing to fall for it, Hegseth was asked whether he would follow a court order that determined Trump’s “deployment of troops into our cities is not legal.”
The Secretary shot back, “I don’t believe district courts should be determining national security policy … When it goes to the Supreme Court, we’ll see.”
Later, on social media platform X, Hirono wrote, “I asked Pete Hegseth a simple question: Will you follow federal court orders? He said no. The lawlessness of this regime is a threat to all of us.”
I asked Pete Hegseth a simple question: Will you follow federal court orders?
He said no.
The lawlessness of this regime is a threat to all of us. pic.twitter.com/lOyRNDvHsU
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) June 18, 2025
Minutes later, the DOD Rapid