WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is renewing his efforts to reprimand Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for appearing in a video alongside other Democratic veterans, where they encouraged service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
Kelly, a former Navy Captain, recently initiated legal action to prevent Hegseth from sending him a censure letter and reducing his military retirement pay due to his participation in the video. Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge imposed a preliminary injunction, halting the proposed penalties.
Hegseth is now challenging this injunction by appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeking to enforce the disciplinary measures.
Kelly responded on X, asserting, “These guys don’t know when to quit. A federal judge informed Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth that they violated my constitutional rights and suppressed the free speech of countless retired veterans.”
“There is only one reason to appeal that ruling: to keep trampling on the free speech rights of retired veterans and silence dissent,” the Arizona senator went on. “I went to war to defend Americansâ constitutional rights and I wonât back down from this fight, no matter how far they want to take it.”
Kelly was joined in the controversial video last year by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-Col.), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)
The other five weren’t in Hegseth’s purview for such a punishment, given that Slotkin served in the CIA and that the other four were not retired like Kelly.
Their vague video last year ominously claimed that President Trump was “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”
None of the six specified what kind of “illegal orders” they expected service members to receive.
Hegseth declared that âconduct was seditious in nature,” and Trump described it on Truth Social as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.”
Most of the pols involved in the saga shared the House chamber together Tuesday evening for President Trump’s State of the Union address, including Hegseth, Kelly and Slotkin.
Kelly had served for 25 years and became a NASA astronaut. He has drawn 2028 presidential murmurs.
The Trump administration unsuccessfully attempted to indict the six Democratic veterans over the video, but failed to win over a grand jury.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, who issued the preliminary injunction, concluded that Kelly will “likely succeed” on the merits of his lawsuit.
