The Pentagon says it is taking steps to demote Democratic senator and former Navy captain Mark Kelly and cut his pension over a video the department called “seditious.”
“Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and inflammatory video that was clearly intended to undermine order and military discipline,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.
The Arizona senator was one of six Democratic lawmakers. who released the video calling on military personnel to refuse illegal orders following US strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels.
Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, called Hegseth's actions “outrageous” and “un-American.”
According to Hegseth's tweet Monday morning, he has 30 days to submit a formal response to the Pentagon notice.
“As a retired Navy captain who is still receiving his military pension, Captain Kelly knows that he remains accountable to military justice. Both the War Department—and the American people—expect justice,” Hegseth wrote in a statement on X.
Hegseth said the department has initiated a retirement determination process under which a reduction in Kelly's retirement rank would result in a reduction in retirement salary.
“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our nation's history, thinks he can intimidate me with censure or threats to demote or impeach me, he still doesn't get it,” Kelly wrote on X on Monday.
“I will fight this as hard as I can – not for myself, but to make it clear that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump do not get to decide what Americans in this country can say about their government.”
The controversy stems from a video released last November in which Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers who also served in the military or intelligence services told U.S. military personnel that they “can refuse illegal orders.”
It was published amid growing questions about the legality of US strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels off the coast of South America.
Kelly says in the video: “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”
“Like us, you are all sworn to defend this Constitution. Right now, threats to our constitution are coming not only from abroad, but right here at home.”
Trump responded to the video with a series of posts on Truth Social, accusing lawmakers of “CRIMINAL CONDUCT AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.”
Shortly thereafter, the Trump administration announced it was launching a review of Kelly's conduct under military law.
Kelly, a decorated retired Navy captain with more than two decades of service and multiple tours of duty, then responded by saying, “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing their jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work.”
Experts say that although Kelly has left the military, he is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), a federal law passed by Congress in 1951 that subjects military personnel to a special set of rules.
But legal analysts have questioned the Pentagon's authority to punish a sitting member of Congress for political speech, although the department says retired officers are still subject to certain aspects.
