White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt says “all orders” from President Trump are “lawful orders” and the military has no authority to question him.
“All legal, all orders, legal orders are considered legal by our military personnel. It is impossible to have a functioning army if there is disorder and chaos in the ranks,” Leavitt said reporters outside the White House on Monday. “And that's what these Democratic members have encouraged. That's very clear. And not one of them, since they've been pressured by the media… can point to a single illegal order that this administration has rescinded, because it doesn't exist.”
“You can't put a soldier on the battlefield or give a secret order and wonder if the order is legal or if he should carry it out,” Leavitt argued previously, in a distorted reading of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Leavitt: “Our military personnel consider all legal, all orders, legal orders to be legal.” pic.twitter.com/7j6bX9ErqP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 24, 2025
Leavitt's comments came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. weighs court-martial former astronaut, retired naval officer and now Democratic senator Mark Kelly for his role in a video that the right is calling “seditious.”
“This administration is turning our uniformed military and intelligence professionals against American citizens. Like us, you are all sworn to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, threats to our Constitution are coming not only from abroad, but right here at home,” Kelly said in the videoalong with Senator Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, all former military or intelligence veterans. “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”
Kelly later responded to threats from the Department of Defense.
“In combat, I had a rocket explode near my plane and flew under anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets. At NASA, I launched a rocket, commanded the space shuttle, and participated in the rescue mission that brought home the bodies of my fellow astronauts who died aboard the plane. Colombia. “I did all this to serve this country that I love and which has given me so much… I have also seen messages from the President that I should be arrested, hanged and executed,” he said. wrote. “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing their jobs and holding this administration accountable, it will not work. I have given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their power than protecting the Constitution.”
Unfortunately for the White House's argument, the Trump administration gave illegal orders to the military. Just last week, a federal judge rules that Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington was illegal. But Leavitt does what she does best: mindlessly supports and justifies everything the president does.
