WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s “not threatening death” toward a group of Democratic members of Congress whom he accused of committing “seditious behavior,” which he said a day earlier was “punishable by death.”
“In the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death,” Trump said in an interview Friday on conservative Brian Kilmeade’s radio show when asked to clarify what he meant.
The president’s latest remarks come after he lodged the accusation and warning Thursday after Democratic lawmakers, many of whom are veterans, released a video urging members of the military and intelligence community not to follow illegal orders.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who previously worked at the CIA and Department of Defense, on Tuesday shared the video of herself and other former members of the military and intelligence community.
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders,” they said. “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
The other participants included Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Reps. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Jason Crow of Colorado.
Trump responded to their video message in multiple posts on Truth Social, including one where he said, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reposted other posts such as one that said, “Hang them George Washington would.”
The president denied that he threatened the members of Congress. “I think they’re in serious trouble. I would say they’re in serious trouble. I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death. That was seditious behavior.”
Slotkin, Kelly, Crow, Deluzio, Houlahan and Goodlander didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment in response to Trump’s assertion Friday that he wasn’t threatening death.
Trump said that the lawmakers who appeared in the video “broke the law,” and added, “I can say if I ever said that and there were a Democrat as president, all hell would have broken loose. And it has broken loose.” The president said that he believes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is investigating the situation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the idea Thursday that the president was calling for members of Congress to be executed. “No,” she said when asked that question, later adding that the Democrats’ comments are “a very, very dangerous message and it perhaps is punishable by law. I’m not a lawyer. I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.”
Crow, who served in the Army, told reporters on Capitol Hill Friday that he was “absolutely” receiving more threats since Trump’s posts.
“You know, when the president of the United States tweets out death threats and says the things that he says that, you know, that stirs things up a lot,” Crow said. “But again, I’m not going to be incredibly intimidated, and certainly not going to change my approach.”
Ryan Nobles and Kyle Stewart contributed.