The Pentagon said Monday that it has received “serious allegations of misconduct” against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and has initiated a “thorough review” of the allegations. It comes days after the senator, along with a handful of other lawmakers, called on U.S. service members to disobey any illegal orders issued by the Trump administration.
The Defense Department (DOD) said it had initiated an investigation to “determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
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Kelly was one of the six Democratic lawmakers, along with Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who addressed U.S. troops in a video last week, telling active-duty military and intelligence personnel to defy any illegal orders from the administration, in light of the U.S. military’s ongoing campaign of taking out alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hammered the video from the six Democrats as “despicable, reckless and false” and argued that “encouraging” troops to ignore orders “of their Commanders undermines every aspect of ‘good order and discipline.’”
The party of “witch hunt!” continues its actual witch hunts against anyone who speaks out against the president.
Witch of course he wasn’t doing. He was standing up for the constitution and the rule of law, reminding all that their oath is to uphold the constitution.
I love Slotkin. She is my Senator. I’m not entirely sure this message to military personnel would change anything, though, so it seems like a weird hill to die on. They sure are brave, though. I would like to see more of that kind of courage from my elected representatives.
Is anyone doing and over/under on the number of judicial faceplants these guys are going to do before they decide that stepping on their own dicks is a bad idea?
Do they really think this stupid crap will fly in an actual court? Sure, public opinion among the MAGAs is stupidly easy to manipulate, but in an actual court, where they look at what Kelly actual did, and actually said, this case is dead on arrival.
I agree. I’ve been aware of her since she ran for and won as the Representative of a neighboring district to mine, and she’s always struck me as the type of government employee and politician who went into public service for all the right reasons.
I don’t think it’s about trying to get any actual convictions, it’s just a dog and pony show of opening investigations into the enemies of MAGA and getting it on the news. The cases against James Comey and Letitia James were just thrown out. trump and his ilk can always claim incompetence or corruption on the part of the courts that dismiss these bogus investigations.
I don’t envy Kelly’s position of risk here - any military tribunal or court has a chance of going sideways - but I bet there’s at least some part inside of Kelly chomping at the bit to smack Hegseth down.
Hegseth is one of those people who would have cheerfully slaughtered civilians in a village if given the chance. To him, the UCMJ is just a piece of paper that can be ignored at will. He’s about to get his ass handed to him. Again.
I have an ocean front property in Arizona for cheap, too.
I’m sure there’s some dirt somewhere in Kelly’s background. No one is pristine. But I see an honorable man. Who took a stand and said outloud what everyone was thinking.
I applaud him and the others.
I knew they’d single him out. I’m sure he did too.
I don’t think this is a hijack and important for context.
A member of the military gets an order that they think is illegal. What are they supposed to do? They cannot follow an illegal order but they must follow legal orders so what if the soldier/sailor/marine/airman isn’t sure if it is legal or illegal?
If they are working in the Pentagon, they may be able to walk over to the someone in the Judge Advocate General office and ask. In the field, probably not. Nothing the six members said in their video changes the fact that a military member potentially faces difficult choices.
Until long form journalism comes out on this, maybe in a few years, it is speculative why these six members took their action this month. If I wanted to be critical, I could speculate that these six are moderates being pressured by home state progressives to show they have some gumption. But I think too highly of my House member, Chrissy Houlahan, to see her as playing that kind of game. My better guess is that they are thinking ahead as to what obviously illegal orders Trump and Hegseth may give as they become increasingly authoritarian. The six possibly were worried that troops will be ordered to fire on demonstrators, or to refuse to hand over the nuclear weapons authority to the winner of the next presidential election.
It is possible the six realized Trump would attempt to put themselves on trial and thought Trump likely losing the case would help demonstrate that illegal orders can be resisted.
So I am uncertain what they hope to achieve with the video. I am certain than telling troops to obey legal orders only is utterly and completely proper and legal.
She is my Senator and was also my representative before that as well, an outstanding person. She and the others are doing the job they were elected for, leadership. Its a damn shame that we have to recognize this as exemplary behavior, when all should be standing up for the constitution on both sides.