Leavitt Says “All” Military Orders by Trump Must Be “Presumed to Be Legal”

the use of military force to detain and deport immigrants could be considered illegal, as well as Trump’s boat strikes.

The dubious claim comes despite officials within the administration saying that the boat strike operation is unlawful.

By Sharon Zhang , Truthout, November 25, 2025, https://truthout.org/articles/leavitt-says-all-military-orders-by-trump-must-be-presumed-to-be-legal/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=bd2e9875e3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_11_25_09_37&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-bd2e9875e3-650192793

hite House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Monday that “all orders” by President Donald Trump should be “presumed” legal by the military, as she defended comments he made last week threatening Democratic lawmakers with “DEATH.”

Speaking to reporters outside of the White House on Monday, Leavitt claimed that Democrats were trying to create “chaos” within the military by reminding service members of their right to refuse to carry out illegal orders.

“All orders, lawful orders are presumed to be legal by our service members. You can’t have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks,” Leavitt said.

“And that’s what these Democrat members were encouraging. It’s very clear,” she went on, saying that none of them “can point to a single illegal order that this administration has given down, because it does not exist.”

Leavitt said that the White House backs the Department of Defense’s probe into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) over a video he put out with fellow lawmakers reminding military members of their oath to “defend this Constitution.” A former Naval aviator, Sen. Kelly remains subject to military law despite retiring from the Navy in 2011.

“You can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly said in the video, alongside other ex-military and intelligence Democrats. “We need you to stand up for our laws. Our Constitution. And who we are as Americans.”

The lawmakers were referencing rights afforded to service members under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which says that individuals in the military are not obligated to carry out orders that are illegal under U.S. law and known to be so by the service member. This summer, Truthout reported that a GI Rights Hotline saw an uptick in calls from members of the military seeking support for defying potentially illegal orders by Trump, like orders to carry out his immigration raids.

Leavitt’s assertion that all orders must be presumed to be legal is absurd on its face, regardless of who is handing down the orders. However, it echoes the twisted logic of a secretive Justice Department legal memo on the administration’s Latin American boat strike campaign, which reportedly suggests that Trump and his administration’s word alone is enough to establish legality for strikes. It also follows with the Trump administration’s relentless attempts to concentrate power within the executive branch, without oversight from Congress or other bodies.

The press secretary’s claim that there isn’t a “single illegal order” that has been passed down by the Trump administration is also patently false, experts have repeatedly said; as legal scholar Marjorie Cohn has noted for Truthout, the use of military force to detain and deport immigrants could be considered illegal, as well as Trump’s boat strikes.

Meanwhile, even officials within the military reportedly disagree. Last week, NBC reported that a senior judge advocate general, known as a JAG, raised concerns in August that the operations were unlawful. The man, a top military lawyer for the command that oversees the strikes, said that they could expose service members to legal action due to the illegality of the strikes, but his concerns were dismissed by more senior officials, sources said.