Illegal and total fucking bullshit....

Pentagon moves to punish senator for anti-Trump video

The Pentagon has been investigating the retired Navy captain after he and other Democrats publicly called for troops to disobey illegal orders.

By Leo Shane III and Connor O'Brien

The Defense Department is taking steps to downgrade Sen. Mark Kelly’s retirement rank and pay in response to his November video warning service members not to follow illegal orders.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a post on social media, called the Arizona Democrat’s remarks “seditious statements” and claimed they are part of a “pattern of reckless misconduct.”

He said the department has initiated proceedings to demote Kelly from a retired Navy captain to a lower rank, with a corresponding reduction in pay. The senator has 30 days to appeal the move.

The Pentagon launched an inquiry into Kelly last year after he and other congressional Democrats released a video reminding troops they don’t need to obey unlawful orders. Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, has argued the investigation amounts to political retribution by the Trump administration.

Hegseth had threatened to call Kelly back to active duty to face a court-martial. While the Pentagon’s administrative action does not go as far, it does mark an unusual attack on the military record of a high-profile politician. The Pentagon chief announced the probe into Kelly in November just days after he and five other congressional Democrats with national security backgrounds released the video.

“Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,” Hegseth said.

Kelly vowed to fight the disciplinary action “to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

In an online rebuttal, he argued the Trump administration is using the action to silence its critics.

“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way,” Kelly said. “It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.”

While Kelly and the other lawmakers did not specify what orders they considered illegal, Democrats in recent weeks have argued Trump is putting the military in a legal gray area with deadly strikes against suspect drug smuggling boats in Latin America, the capture and arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and by deploying the National Guard to U.S. cities.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer defended Kelly and called the disciplinary action against the Arizona Democrat “a despicable act of political retribution.”

“Mark Kelly is a hero and a patriot committed to serving the American people,” Schumer posted on X. “Pete Hegseth is a lap dog committed to serving one man — Donald Trump.”

Trump last year also attacked the video as “seditious” behavior.

Hegseth said Kelly has 30 days to appeal the decision. A final ruling on the case is expected in 45 days.

Kelly receives about $6,000 a month in military retirement pay, based on his 25 years of military service and his rank as a Navy Captain. A reduction in rank, from O-6 to O-5, could cost him about $1,000 a month in payouts.

Administration officials publicly criticized the other Democratic lawmakers in the video — Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Reps. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Jason Crow of Colorado — but noted that they were not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice in the same way as Kelly, a military retiree.

The lawmakers said they were still subjects of an FBI probe, which they called an abuse of power by the White House.