

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a false claim in his testimony to the House on Wednesday. Then he repeated it in his testimony to the Senate on Thursday. Hegseth said Wednesday: “In 2024, troops were depl… – that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden – were deployed to polling locations in 15 states." He continued, "2024 – Joe Biden – troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me.” Here’s the explanation: Hegseth’s claim isn't true. Not only were all National Guard activations for the 2024 election done by individual states rather than Biden, all 11 states that responded to my inquiries said *no troops* there were sent to polling places. Rather, they said, Guard personnel were in other locations helping with election cybersecurity, doing other behind-the-scenes support work, or not actually activated for the election after all. Fact check with on-record quotes: cnn.com/2026/05/04/pol…















