--- title: ‘It Won’t Work’: Mark Kelly Pushes Back Against Pentagon Investigation Into Him description: "I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies," Kelly said in response to the Pentagon's plans to investigate his role in a video about “illegal orders." canonical: https://time.com/7336645/mark-kelly-pentagon-investigation-illegal-orders/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-11-24T22:10:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:02.822Z article:section: Politics og:title: ‘It Won’t Work’: Mark Kelly Pushes Back Against Pentagon Investigation Into Him og:description: "I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies," Kelly said, after the Pentagon said it was investigatng his role in urging military members to resist “illegal orders." og:url: https://time.com/7336645/mark-kelly-pentagon-investigation-illegal-orders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b6facad62fbcf7b/6998cbfb07a30d2db977d8f4/GettyImages-2247315709.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: House To Vote On Release Of Epstein Files og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘It Won’t Work’: Mark Kelly Pushes Back Against Pentagon Investigation Into Him twitter:description: "I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies," Kelly said, after the Pentagon said it was investigatng his role in urging military members to resist “illegal orders." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b6facad62fbcf7b/6998cbfb07a30d2db977d8f4/GettyImages-2247315709.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘It Won’t Work’: Mark Kelly Pushes Back Against Pentagon Investigation Into Him > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5f2af50-c662-4803-8830-8fa8ecaf6d61&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Calls for Arrests of Democrats Who Urged Troops to Refuse Illegal Orders: ‘Seditious Behavior, Punishable by Death’ [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Calls for Arrests of Democrats Who Urged Troops to Refuse Illegal Orders: ‘Seditious Behavior, Punishable by Death’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kY48NsuH.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2025-11-20. President Donald Trump has labeled six Democratic lawmakers “seditious” and called for them to be arrested, after the politicians posted a video urging members of the military and the intelligence community to refuse unlawful orders._  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Nov 24, 2025 10:10 PM UTC  U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (R-AZ) speaks during a news conference on the "Epstein Files" outside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House is expected to vote today on the legislation, which instructs the U.S. Department of Justice to release all files related to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (R-AZ) speaks during a news conference on the "Epstein Files" outside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House is expected to vote today on the legislation, which instructs the U.S. Department of Justice to release all files related to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Heather Diehl—2025 Getty Images  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Nov 24, 2025 10:10 PM UTC The Pentagon announced on Monday that it will investigate Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona for potential breaches of military law over his participation in a video calling on U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” from superiors. The [department argues](https://x.com/DeptofWar/status/1992999267967905905) that Kelly, a retired US Navy captain, has been the subject of “serious allegations of misconduct.” The move comes after President Donald Trump [called for the arrest of Kelly](https://time.com/7335430/trump-democrats-arrest-sedition-military-illegal-orders-video/) and five other senators who participated in the video, and suggested their behavior was "punishable by death." **Read More:** [_Trump Has Vowed to Prosecute His Political Foes. Here’s Who Could Be Next_](https://time.com/7321683/trump-political-opponents-doj-prosecution/) All six senators who participated in the video previously served either in the military or in national security positions, though Kelly is the only that was a senior officer in the military. That makes him the only one of the group who by law remains available for recall to the military. “Five of the six individuals in that video do not fall under Department of War jurisdiction (one is CIA and four are former military but not “retired”, so they are no longer subject to UCMJ),” Defense Director Pete Hegseth [said on X](https://x.com/PeteHegseth/status/1993008532187148582), while calling the video “despicable.” “However, Mark Kelly (retired Navy Commander) is still subject to UCMJ—and he knows that.” The Pentagon argues that the video goes against the “loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces.” The White House “supports” the investigation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday after it was announced. “Senator Mark Kelly well knows the rules of the military and the respect one must have for the chain of command,” Leavitt said. “You can’t have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks, and that’s what these Democrats were encouraging.” The investigation by the Pentagon of a sitting Senator is highly unusual, and represents the Trump Administration’s latest effort to to target the presidents’[ political enemies](https://time.com/7321683/trump-political-opponents-doj-prosecution/), including [former FBI Director James Comey](https://time.com/7320692/james-comey-indictment-fbi-trump-pam-bondi-false-statement-halligan/) and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom saw indictments against them dismissed on Monday by a federal judge. Kelly dismissed the Pentagon’s announcement as the work of “bullies,” and asserted he has upheld his oath to the Constitution throughout his military career and “every day since I retired.” “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly said in a [statement](https://x.com/SenMarkKelly/status/1993025671757807746). “I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.” The video featuring Kelly and his fellow senators was posted last week to social media. In it, they argued “the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad—but from right here at home.” Addressing service members, the video said,“You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.” The video came as Trump has engaged in a historic reliance on federal power, the National Guard, and service members as a whole. The President has overseen bombing campaign on alleged [drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean](https://time.com/7326921/trump-venezuela-caribbean-drug-boats-maduro/)—a campaign whose legality has been questioned by experts—and he has deployed the National Guard to Democratic-led cities including Washington D.C., Chicago, Memphis, and Los Angeles in an attempt to curb what he says is an immigration and crime crisis. Trump ramped up his rhetoric against those Democrats speaking in the video, describing their behavior as “seditious” and “punishable by death.” "This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country,” Trump [said of the video on Thursday](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115582451169685243). “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” ## Transcript This morning, President Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of seditious behavior punishable by death. Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress? No. Let's be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president's response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military to active duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's lawful orders. The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed. It can lead to chaos. And that's what these members of Congress who swore an oath to, to abide by the Constitution are essentially encouraging. We have 1.3 active duty service members in this country. And if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress, that could inspire chaos and it could incite violence, and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command. And so these members knew what they were doing. They were leading into their credentials as former members of our military, as veterans, as former members of the national security apparatus, to signal to people serving under this commander in chief, Donald Trump, that you can defy him and you can betray your oath of office. That is a very, very dangerous message. Message. And it perhaps is punishable by law. I'm not a lawyer. I'll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide. The president and the vice president, for that matter, have accused the other side of encouraging political violence. Isn't that exactly what the president is doing when he says that members of Congress should be killed? Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence? They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to to defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders. Every single. Illegal order which they. Are. But they're suggesting they're suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief, and through this command chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful. And the courts have proven that this administration has an unparalleled record at the Supreme Court because we are following the laws. We don't defy court orders. We do things by the books and to to suggest and encourage that active duty service members defy the chain of command is a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do, and they should be held accountable. 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