{"id":306343,"date":"2025-11-25T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306343\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:28:08","slug":"mark-kelly-call-for-troops-to-disobey-illegal-orders-is-non-controversial-us-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306343\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Kelly: call for troops to disobey illegal orders is \u2018non-controversial\u2019 | US military"},"content":{"rendered":"

US senator Mark Kelly said it was \u201cnon-controversial\u201d for him and other Democrats to implore military personnel to disobey \u201cillegal orders\u201d from the Trump administration \u2013 hitting back at accusations<\/a> of \u201cserious allegations of misconduct\u201d leveled against him by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said something that was pretty simple and non-controversial \u2013 and that was that members of the military should follow the law,\u201d the Arizona Democrat senator, a former US Navy officer and astronaut who flew on four separate space shuttle missions between 2001 and 2011, told<\/a> MS Now on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Kelly then alluded to how the president went on social media to say Kelly and the others had engaged in \u201cseditious behavior, punishable by death\u201d \u2013 while also republishing another user\u2019s post containing the phrase \u201chang them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in response to that, Donald Trump said I should be executed, I should be hanged, I should be prosecuted,\u201d Kelly said to political talkshow host Rachel Maddow.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won\u2019t work. I\u2019ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s remarks came after the Pentagon announced it was launching an investigation into the senator after Trump protested that Kelly and the other five Democratic lawmakers \u201cshould be in jail right now\u201d for releasing a video <\/a>advising service members that \u201cthreats to our constitution\u201d are coming \u201cfrom right here at home\u201d. The video also said military members can \u201crefuse illegal orders\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Fox News reported<\/a> that the FBI had contacted US capitol police in Washington DC to schedule interviews with the six Democrats in question.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon warned<\/a> that it could recall Kelly to active duty to be court-martialed and cited a federal law<\/a> that bans military retirees against interfering \u201cwith the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> of his own, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, argued that the video at the center of the controversy was \u201cdespicable, reckless, and false\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEncouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their commanders undermines every aspect of \u2018good order and discipline,\u2019\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

Trump weighed in with his own point of view, calling the senators\u2019 statement \u201cseditious behaviour at the highest level\u201d and for an example to be set. \u201cTheir words cannot be allowed to stand \u2013 We won\u2019t have a Country anymore!!! punishable by DEATH!\u201d<\/p>\n

Active military members in the US \u2013 whose oath is to the constitution rather than the president \u2013 can face execution for the crime of sedition. Civilians, meanwhile, can be fined and imprisoned for up to 20 years if found to have engaged in seditious conspiracy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the US Manual for Courts-Martial states<\/a> that military requirements to obey orders do not apply \u201cto a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime\u201d \u2013 while also prohibiting \u201ccontemptuous speech\u201d.<\/p>\n

The dispute between the Trump administration<\/a> and Kelly \u2013 whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, narrowly survived an attempted assassination in 2011 while she was in Congress meeting constituents \u2013 comes amid claims from Democrats that the Pentagon has issued illegal orders. Democrats allege that the purported illegal orders include sending military personnel to the seal the US-Mexico border and in carrying out deadly strikes on so-called fast boats in the Pacific and the Caribbean that the administration claims were carrying illegal narcotics.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Beaumont of Middle Tennessee State University\u2019s Free Speech Center<\/a> told the Associated Press that US military regulations \u201chave been used to restrict political expression as well as other activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

The dispute also hits a shallow nerve on the use of \u201csedition\u201d after Trump supporters were accused of precisely that by carrying out a deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 \u2013 when the first of his two non-consecutive presidential terms in ended in defeat to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Some of the mob members even called for the hanging of Mike Pence, Trump\u2019s vice-president at the time, who oversaw a congressional session certifiying Biden\u2019s victory in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Trump then granted presidential clemency to more than 1,500 Capitol attackers shortly after his second term began in January.<\/p>\n

In his remarks on Monday to MS Now about Trump and the video, Kelly said \u201csending a mob to round me and the other folks up \u2026 says a lot more about him than it says about me. He doesn\u2019t want accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired air force officer and Nebraska Republican congressman Don Bacon offered some measure of calm to the political mud-slinging, calling the Democrats\u2019 video \u201cunnecessary and foolish\u201d but also drawing attention to the Pentagon\u2019s response with an insult over its formal department of defense name.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmateur hour once again at the Department of Dense,\u201d Bacon wrote<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n

Bacon added<\/a> that Kelly and his fellow Democrats in the video \u201csaid don\u2019t follow illegal orders \u2013 that is the law by the way\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck prosecuting someone who is quoting the law,\u201d Bacon continued. \u201cThe administration should have just pointed out how dumb it was. The threats looked dumber.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US senator Mark Kelly said it was \u201cnon-controversial\u201d for him and other Democrats to implore military personnel to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-306343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}