Fact check: Hegseth twice made a false claim to Congress about troops being sent to voting places under Biden

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified to the House and Senate that troops were deployed to polling locations in 15 states under President Joe Biden in 2024. However, 13 states that activated National Guard troops for the 2024 election confirmed that none of their troops were deployed to polling locations. Instead, Guard personnel worked behind the scenes on election cybersecurity or served as internal liaisons. Iowa National Guard spokesperson Jackie Schmillen stated that their personnel worked in a cybersecurity capacity from a state emergency operations center and never went to polling stations. Arizona National Guard spokesperson Erin Hannigan confirmed that their Cyber Joint Task Force activated personnel in a standby role but did not deploy to polling locations. Hegseth repeated the false claim in both House and Senate hearings despite being challenged by Democratic lawmakers.