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 Response X account posted: “Senator, he didn’t say no. He said “I don’t believe district courts should be [determining] national security policy.”
Senator, he didn’t say no.
He said “I don’t believe district courts should be determing national security policy.” https://t.co/evW3ciEmxh
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 18, 2025
This stunt was an attempt to distract from the real issue at hand, which is that this same executive authority has already been exercised by several presidents.
The Commander in Chief is allowed to federalize National Guard troops to maintain order if he sees fit.
Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson all used their authority to do so, according to the National Guard’s own website.
Even as early as 1992, President George H.W. Bush sent National Guard troops in the very same city of Los Angeles to quell riots related to the acquittal of police officers charged in the Rodney King case.
Naturally, the media, specifically TIME Magazine, tries to tell the public “this time it’s different.”
Yes, then-Gov. Pete Wilson requested the Guard be brought in, but a request from local lawmakers is not necessary if the executive branch sees a need for such an escalation.
Yet the mainstream media failed to even mention that when Eisenhower federalized troops, he did so against the wishes of Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus, as written in the National Archives.
It seems like anyone but Trump is allowed to use the tools at their disposal to restore public confidence and maintain safety.
This is a common tactic amongst the far left and members of the media — gaslighting the public by cherry-picking information, while relying on Democrat lawmakers to perpetuate their lies in any way they can.
That’s exactly what Hirono was doing. In tandem with California’s radical Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, they’re seeking to rewrite the law because it doesn’t allow for them to sit idly by while liberal cities are overrun with criminality at the expense of American citizens.
Which begs the question: Who is funding these riots? And why are liberal lawmakers so desperately fighting for them to continue?
Thankfully, the Department of Justice has launched an investigation to determine just that.
Either way, as Hegseth said, the issue is likely headed to the Supreme Court, where the judicial branch must check these bad actors by reminding them that the president has certain rights, and so do we, the people.
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