Skip to content
topics.

Fact check: Pete Hegseth falsely told Congress troops were sent to polling sites

politicsMay 5, 2026371,596

Pete Hegseth told Congress on two separate occasions that U.S. troops had been sent to polling locations, a claim CNN verified was false. He made those assertions while testifying about military posture and election security at a congressional hearing. Separate reporting says Hegseth brought his wife into meetings at the Pentagon, prompting questions about access and departmental protocol. Misstating troop movements and mixing personal guests into defense meetings matters because it can mislead lawmakers, hinder oversight, and trigger ethics reviews.

VoteVets
@votevets.org

Rep. Maggie Goodlander used Pete Hegseth's own words to make a clear point: the U.S. military will not follow unlawful orders. Hegseth tried to call the question partisan but Goodlander reminded him that HE was the one who said that. He confirmed it under oath, let's hold him to it.

410Yesterday
David6

He doesn’t care about the law or his oath. cbwrong.blogspot.com/2026/05/we-d...

@GioLovesYou6

Hegseth would have failed high school debate if he could have made the team!

Kat Denise4

They already have obeyed unlawful orders (have they not?, but ok. @goodlander.house.gov

Dystopian Prophet2

they already have and continue to every single day

bombaycrone.bsky.social2

I love it that a woman is shredding him.

RunSuRun2

This man is the living definition of punk.

Seth Abramson
@sethabramson.bsky.social

FFS, has anyone in corporate media considered just asking Pete Hegseth what he thinks the term "ceasefire" means

495Yesterday
Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion16

Hegseth’s version would be they cease and we fire.

Skot Christopherson7

Except for the fact all the press at the DoD briefings work for right-wing propaganda outlets and would never dare ask a serious question, I agree

BATFiNK5

are these expensive 😁 A US Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker tanker aircraft squawked emergency code 7700 about an hour ago while flying over the Persian Gulf conducting refueling operations. The aircraft's transponders failed before reaching Qatar.

Angry Hobbit5

"You keep using that word. I am not sure it means what you think it means"

JR3

Now they start a new clock on a new war, before they go back to another "ceasefire". I can see this going on until 2028, while they also plan to create so-called Greater North America. It seems it will be ruinous.

lilmermaid17.bsky.social3

When Iran is shooting at ships and the US Navy is shooting back, that's not a ceasefire. Besides, a blockade is a act of war!

Au Suivant.2

Something that you win the second annual FIFA peace prize for?

WarTrials💙2

Armageddon and the rapture.. that's what kegsbreath means

alta-kaker.bsky.social2

The corporate media is entirely useless for over a decade and refuses to ask pertinent questions and follow-up when the answers are pure bullshit. Kegsbreath is drunken cosplay Faux News actor, and is incapable of rendering a coherent answer

JBJ.2

A mixed drink of ice absinthe and orange juice served on fire

Rebecca Watson
@skepchick.org

I bet they changed it from "Department of Defense" to "Department of War" because Pete Hegseth thought only girls are "Secretaries" so he needed a more gender-affirming title

181Yesterday
Mæve6

“Presidency of Peace oversees re-envisioning the Dept. of Defense to Dept. of War in an ironic attempt to keep drunk man happy, while proving cis people CAN handle name changes.”

OFFICIAL ANTIFA MASCOT DOG5

The next time he testifies, SOMEBODY on the Hill needs to compliment his makeup.

John-Henry Beck4

I mean, the actual reason they gave was basically that - War being essentially more manly than Defensive.

En Buen Ora3

they had to talk him down from naming himself Master or God of War

Fraa Paul3

This reminds me of my theory that DOGE shuttered USAID because they heard it’s a source of “soft power” and we only want super manly “hard power.”

Believelander Says Trans Rights2

Very girlboss of him 👏

wrestlingdad1975.bsky.social2

Who knows what goes through the knuckleheads brain at this point. All I know is Pete is an example why having a degree from an Ivy League school doesn’t mean you are smart or intelligent

Anagram Doe2

the department of look at these guns, figuratively and literally

Amy Raven - Crash Magnet2

Probably thinks Secretary is a little too gay

The Intercept
@theintercept.com

War Secretary Pete Hegseth insists “the ceasefire is not over,” despite renewed combat between U.S. and Iranian forces.

114Yesterday
Daniel Bullen4

Because words mean nothing in this administration

Mary the Insufficiently Grateful Lesbian3

If that cement-head told me it was raining I'd look outside to make sure.

lovesdaryl 🌹🇺🇦🇪🇺🐸3

Secretary of Defense, if you please. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The Daily Beast
@thedailybeast.bsky.social

Pete Hegseth squirmed over a damning intel leak showing Trump’s war on Iran has barely slowed the regime’s race to a nuclear bomb.

52Yesterday
Raw Story
@rawstory.com

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth raised eyebrows in Tuesday morning's press briefing on the war in Iran.

27Yesterday
CODEPINK
@codepink.bsky.social

Pete Hegseth is responsible for war crimes. Accountability begins with the truth. Hegseth has refused to answer Congress's questions about the bombing, but we won't stop demanding answers. Help us push CNN to put Hegseth on the hot seat: codepink.org/hotseat

22Yesterday
E hele me ka pu‘olo
@pnwgeographies.bsky.social

Hopefully, at some point, there will be accountability for this and I dearly hope Pete Hegseth et al. spend a long time in jail for it.

24Yesterday
Farrukh
@implausibleblog.bsky.social

Pete Hegseth says the USA controls the Strait of Hormuz, then goes on to explain how the US doesn't control the Strait of Hormuz 🤦‍♂️ "Iran has an ability, uh, to make that deal. But what we're demonstrating with Project Freedom is they don't control the strait"

23Yesterday
myles-macdonald.bsky.social2

"Project Freedom"? I thought it was called "Operation Epic Fury" are they forgetting their own stupid names now?

Jewish Dems
@jewishdems.bsky.social

ICYMI: Last week, Pete Hegseth continuously used an antisemitic term when testifying in front of Congress. @rosen.senate.gov stood up for the Jewish community and called him out for this language. Hegseth should apologize immediately – but that would require him to have character.

17Yesterday
Mediaite
@mediaite.com

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fumed over a question from a reporter who bluntly accused President Donald Trump of capitulating on Iran.

25Yesterday
Rhys Powell2

"that's what this government does - kills its own innocent citizens" Ironic isn't it

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘
@kojamf.bsky.social

June 12, 2025 House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith delivers opening remarks in the full committee hearing with U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Pete Hegseth on the Fiscal Year 2026 DoD Budget. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOEn...

16Yesterday
5nark Twain
@5narktwain.bsky.social

#Iran #PeteHegseth #DV1 #ProudBlue The more Haugeseth claims he’s beating Iran the more they kick his ass

9Yesterday
Albert Pinto
@70sbachchan.bsky.social

281/ “Top Pentagon general says strikes ‘all below the threshold’ of restarting full combat…Speaking at a joint press conference, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Pentagon was “not looking for a fight” good to see some escalation management bsky.app/profile/robe...

15Yesterday
JP, The Liberty Underground (PHL)
@johnathanperk.bsky.social

Human frat paddle Pete Hegseth just said our military has created “a red white and blue dome over the Strait” of Hormuz. So, another so-called Iron Dome like the invisible shield of military power the U.S. provides Israel. So much wasted money. The Strait was OPEN at the start of Trump’s Iran War.

15Yesterday
3 sources
cnn.comFact check: Pete Hegseth twice made a false claim to Congress about troops being sent to voting places under Biden | CNN Politicsopen.substack.comPete Hegseth Is the Most Ignominious Military Leader of All Timeindependent.co.ukPete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to Pentagon meetings: report

Related

Ohio and Indiana primary elections, May 5politicsFact check: Pete Hegseth falsely told Congress troops were sent to polling sitespoliticsTrump restores Presidential Fitness Test award for schoolspoliticsHealthcare Not Warfare campaign targets $200B Iran war fundingpolitics