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President Donald Trump and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are facing serious pushback after the Pentagon announced it was investigating U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., over a video posted to social media.
Hegseth’s office announced Monday that it had launched a probe of Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy pilot, and the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, after he joined a handful of other Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds who called for troops to defy “illegal orders.”
The Pentagon’s statement, posted on social media, cited a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court-martial or other measures, The Associated Press reported.
Republican Trump, who has never served in the military and who obtained multiple deferments for service in the Vietnam War, lashed out at the Democrats, calling for their arrests and labeling them as “traitors.”
In its statement Monday, the Pentagon suggested that Kelly’s statements in the video interfered with the “loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces” by citing the federal law that prohibits such actions.
Taking to X, Hegseth asserted that “the video made by the ‘Seditious Six’ was despicable, reckless, and false. Encouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their Commanders undermines every aspect of ‘good order and discipline.’ Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion — which only puts our warriors in danger.”
Kelly pushed back during an interview with MS Now’s “Morning Joe” program.
“You must not follow illegal orders. It was pretty basic, and the president’s first instinct is to politicize this, to threaten political violence against members of the United States Congress,” he said, according to Fox News‘s coverage of the interview. “Just two months ago, Charlie Kirk was killed—and he talked about political violence—and now his instinct is to call for our execution,” Kelly said, referring to Trump.
Others on social media followed suit.
Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of the site MeidasTouch, slammed Hegseth in a post on X.
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“Such a small, petty, insecure loser. The Trump admin didn’t trust this drunken fool anywhere near the Ukraine negotiations so they sent the Sec of the Army instead. So this clown needs to play more stupid games,” he wrote.
Former GOP U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, who recently joined the Democratic Party, also weighed in with a post to X.
“All military personnel have a duty to not obey unlawful orders. That’s all the ‘Patriotic Six’ said. Like everything else you do, this is just performative bulls**t for your base. You’re an unserious mouthpiece for an utterly unfit Commander In Chief,” Walsh wrote.
John Micek has covered politics in state capitols and city halls across the country and in Washington, D.C.
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