{"id":274350,"date":"2025-11-20T22:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/274350\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T22:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:14:08","slug":"outrage-after-trump-accuses-democrats-of-seditious-behavior-punishable-by-death-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/274350\/","title":{"rendered":"Outrage after Trump accuses Democrats of \u2018seditious behavior, punishable by death\u2019 | Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats expressed outrage after Donald Trump<\/a> accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of engaging in \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH\u201d and that they should be arrested after they posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\n

The video<\/a>, released on Tuesday, features six Democratic lawmakers who have previously served in the military or in intelligence roles, including senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, and representatives Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution,\u201d the lawmakers said in the 90-second video. \u201cAnd right now, the threats to our constitution aren\u2019t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders, you can refuse illegal orders, you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

That seemed to prompt a furious response from the US president.<\/p>\n

On Thursday morning, Trump wrote <\/a>on Truth Social: \u201cIt\u2019s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another post<\/a>, he wrote: \u201cThis is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP??? President DJT.\u201d In a third post, he added<\/a>: \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d He also reposted a statement that said: \u201cHANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s statements on Thursday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic whip Katherine Clark and Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar released a joint statement condemning the remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitical violence has no place in America,\u201d they wrote. \u201cRepresentatives Jason Crow, Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan and Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin all served our country with tremendous patriotism and distinction. We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump\u2019s disgusting and dangerous death threats against members of Congress, and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic leaders also said that they had been in contact with the House sergeant at arms and the United States Capitol police \u201cto ensure the safety of these members and their families\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump must immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

The lawmakers who appeared in the video also released a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States,\u201d they said. \u201cThat oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s most telling is that the president considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,\u201d they continued. \u201cOur service members should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cEvery American must unite and condemn the president\u2019s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chuck Schumer<\/a>, the Democratic Senate minority leader, also condemned Trump\u2019s remarks and posted on X<\/a>: \u201cLet\u2019s be crystal clear: the President of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to This Week in Trumpland<\/p>\n

A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThis is an outright THREAT. Every Senator, every Representative, every American \u2013 regardless of party \u2013 should condemn this immediately and without qualification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, defended<\/a> Trump\u2019s claim that the Democrats had engaged in \u201csedition\u201d, describing the video as \u201cwildly inappropriate\u201d, adding: \u201cIt is very dangerous, you have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders, I think that\u2019s unprecedented in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also reportedly told the Independent<\/a> that in what he read of Trump\u2019s posts, Trump was \u201cdefining the crime of sedition\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that. What I\u2019m saying, what I will say unequivocally, that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite House asserts Trump doesn’t want to execute Democratic lawmakers \u2013 video<\/p>\n

During a White House press conference on Thursday afternoon, when asked by a reporter, \u201cDoes the president want to execute members of Congress?\u201d, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, responded<\/a>: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear about what the president is responding to,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cYou have sitting members of the US Congress<\/a> who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the US military, to active duty service members encouraging them to defy the president\u2019s lawful orders.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThe sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed, it can lead to chaos, and that\u2019s what these members of Congress \u2026 are essentially encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrats expressed outrage after Donald Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of engaging in \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-274350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}