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Four days ago, President Donald Trump threatened to put Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly to death for reminding the troops that they do not have to follow illegal orders. Now, the so-called Department of War — that’s the Department of Defense if you’re Pete Hegseth and need to feel like a big boy — announced that it is investigating Kelly over “serious allegations of misconduct.”
Last Tuesday, Kelly starred in a social media video with five other members of Congress. All veterans of the military or the intelligence services, the sextet called on members of the U.S. armed forces to disobey unlawful orders and obey the oath they took to defend the Constitution. It was a timely message given Trump keeps siccing the National Guard on Democratic cities — and keeps getting slapped down by federal judges for doing so.
“Our laws are clear,” Kelly stated in the video. “You can refuse illegal orders.”
Kelly is a Navy veteran who retired at the rank of commander after his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in an assassination attempt. He served multiple deployments on the Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway, flying nearly 40 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm before becoming an astronaut and flying four space shuttle flights at NASA.
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After the video was posted, Trump screamed on social media about the “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” of Kelly and the other lawmakers that was “punishable by DEATH!” Trump slightly walked back those statements later in the week, saying he wasn’t “threatening death” toward those members of Congress but claiming, “In the old days, if you did a thing like that, it was punishable by death.”
In lieu of that, Hegseth, Trump’s secretary of defense, is going to see if it’s punishable by court-martial.
On Monday morning, the Trump administration’s not-really-renamed Department of War announced on X that it would be investigating Kelly over his comments in the video, which could result in “recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.” The department alleged that Kelly’s statements in the video violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, citing a section of the code that allows retired members to be ordered to active duty.
“All servicemembers are reminded that they have a legal obligation under the UCMJ to obey lawful orders and that orders are presumed to be lawful,” the department wrote. “A servicemember’s personal philosophy does not justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order.”
Which would seem to be beside the point, given Kelly wasn’t telling anyone to disobey lawful orders. In accordance with the UCMJ, troops are required to follow only lawful orders, as following an unlawful order could expose service members to prosecution. Simply receiving an order — known as the “Nuremberg Defense” — isn’t a justification for following it.
In his post, Hegseth railed against what he called the “Seditious Six,” calling their video “despicable, reckless and false.” But out of the six members of Congress in the video, Kelly is the only one still subject to UCMJ, Hegseth wrote on X. Thus, Kelly was the only one the Department of Defense War could go after.
In response, Kelly said he wasn’t aware of the investigation until Hegseth’s social media post and isn’t backing away from a fight.
“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly wrote in a statement. “I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”
Others came to Kelly’s defense, including Marine veteran and junior Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, who simply wrote, “Fuck you and your investigation.”
“Secretary Hegseth, all these guys, fuck you guys,” Gallego said in a follow-up video. “You’re not gonna be able to scare us. We have a right to defend the Constitution of the United States. We have a right to tell other service members they have a right to ignore illegal orders.”
Sens. Adam Schiff and Patty Murphy also defended Kelly, writing that he “put his life on the line to serve and defend our nation” and “America needs more patriots like Senator Mark Kelly and fewer miserable cowards like Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth.”
