Pentagon threatens to court docket martial Sen. Mark Kelly over ‘illegal orders’ video that sparked Trump and MAGA fury | EUROtoday

The Department of Defense is performing a “thorough review” of “serious allegations of misconduct” in opposition to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a naval veteran and astronaut who joined members of Congress to induce service members to honor their oath to the Constitution.

Kelly and a number of other different lawmakers with army backgrounds issued a video assertion final week telling troops they “can and must refuse illegal orders,” emphasizing that threats to constitutional order can emerge “from within.”

President Donald Trump labeled the Democratic officers “traitors” who “SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW” as he raged in opposition to them in a sequence of Truth Social statements within the days that adopted. “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!,” he wrote.

Trump additionally reposted a number of messages from Truth Social customers, together with a message demanding the president “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

An announcement from the Pentagon instructed the retired naval officer could possibly be recalled to lively obligation “for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”

“This matter will be handled in compliance with military law, ensuring due process and impartiality,” the Defense Department stated in an announcement Monday. “Further official comments will be limited, to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.”

The assertion additionally reminded army retirees that they’re topic to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the physique of felony legislation that governs members of the armed forces, together with underneath federal statutes that “prohibit actions intended to interfere with the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces.”

“Any violations will be addressed through appropriate legal channels,” in accordance with the Pentagon.

Service members have a “legal obligation” to “obey lawful orders and that orders are presumed to be lawful,” the assertion added. “A servicemember’s personal philosophy does not justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order.”

Kelly, a adorned fighter pilot who retired from lively obligation on the rank of captain, retired from each the Navy and NASA in 2011 to take care of his spouse Gabby Giffords, then a Democratic congresswoman who was practically fatally shot throughout a constituent assembly. Kelly later ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona in 2020.

The video from senators Kelly and Elissa Slotkin together with Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan warns army personnel in opposition to “threats to our Constitution” coming “from right here at home,” an obvious reference to the Trump administration’s deployment of federalized National Guard troops into Democratic-led cities to help the president’s mass deportation agenda. Service members “can refuse illegal orders,” the message stated.

The White House defended the president’s burst of statements, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming that the message from members of Congress might “disrupt the chain of command.”

“The 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,” Leavitt stated Thursday.

The lawmakers abused their workplaces to “signal to people serving under this commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, that you can defy him,” she stated.

“That is a very, very dangerous message, message, and it perhaps is punishable by law,” she added.

This is a growing story