By Fox23.com News Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he is issuing a letter of censure to Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona regarding his participation in a video calling on troops to resist unlawful orders.
According to the Associated Press, Secretary Hegseth said the cesure was “a necessary process step” to proceedings that could lead to a demotion from Kelly’s retired rank of Captain in the U.S. Navy.
Kelly stated on X, formely known as Twitter, said he never expected he would be attacked by the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense for defending people’s First Amendment rights.
“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. It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.” Kelly wrote. “If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but 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.”
The move comes after Kelly took part in a video with five other Democratic lawmakers in which they called on troops to defy “illegal orders”. President Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a post days later. The video, featuring Senator Elissa Slotkin, Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan — all veterans of the armed forces and intelligence community — spoke directly to U.S. service members saying to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders”.
In November, the Pentagon announced it began an investigation into Kelly while citing 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.
Hegseth made clear that Kelly was the only one facing investigation because he is the only one of the lawmakers who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction. Hegseth charged that Kelly’s remarks in the video and afterward violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice provisions against conduct unbecoming an officer and violating good order and discipline. He continued that Kelly’s status as a sitting U.S. Senator doesn’t exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action.
Todd Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general, said that the situation is a novel one and raises legal questions. One issue is whether Kelly’s comments fall under the constitutional protections of the speech and debate clause. The clause is intended to protect members of Congress from questioning about official legislative acts, and a 1968 Supreme Court decision wtote that the provisions’ intent was “to prevent legislative intimidation by and accountability to the other branches of government.”
According to Hegseth, Kelly has 30 days to submit a response to the proceedings that will decide if he is demoted. The decision will be made within 45 days.
