President Donald Trump on Thursday accused several Democratic lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” calling for them to “be arrested and put on trial” for behavior that, he said, could be “punishable by death.”
The lawmakers, many of whom are veterans, had posted a video Tuesday telling military and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders.”
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand — We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET,” the president wrote in one Truth Social post Thursday morning, linking to an article about the video from the Washington Examiner.
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump wrote in another post.
In a third, he wrote: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Trump also reposted multiple posts from other Truth Social users about the video, including one that said, “Hang them George Washington would.”
The lawmakers in the video, which Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin posted Tuesday, are all military veterans and former intelligence officials who spoke directly to members of the military and intelligence community.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military but that trust is at risk,” said the Democratic lawmakers, including Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Reps. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Jason Crow of Colorado.
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders,” they added. “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
They did not call for opposition to any specific policies or orders.
On Tuesday, the day that Slotkin posted the video, Trump adviser Stephen Miller condemned it, accusing the Democratic lawmakers of “openly calling for insurrection.”
Slotkin defended the video, writing in a separate post, “This is the law. Passed down from our Founding Fathers, to ensure our military upholds its oath to the Constitution — not a king. Given you’re directing much of a military policy, you should buff up on the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.”
Deluzio said the lawmakers felt compelled to remind troops of their duty to ignore any illegal orders following concerns raised in recent reporting that “the people are expressing privately or otherwise about decisions coming from this administration and whether they might be placed in a position to have to order something that’s not lawful.”
At a press briefing Thursday afternoon at the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “no” when asked if Trump wants to execute members of Congress.
“Many in this room want to talk about the president’s response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way,” Leavitt added, before criticizing the Democratic lawmakers in the video. “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 national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders.”
She added that the video “perhaps is punishable by law.”
“I’m not a lawyer,” she added. “I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.”
In a phone interview later, Houlahan said Leavitt “twisted” her and fellow Democrats’ words.
“We said that people cannot — literally cannot — obey unlawful orders. That’s what we said. She twisted that into saying that we told people to disobey lawful orders, and this is exactly what the problem is with this upside-down world that we’re living in right now,” she said. “This administration is just messing with everybody’s minds, and that makes me even angrier than my own personal safety.”
Hours after Trump’s initial post, the targeted group of Democratic lawmakers released a statement, calling on Americans to “unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence.”
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,” the lawmakers said in a statement posted to X. “Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders.”
Deluzio told NBC News on Thursday afternoon that he has received threats since Trump posted his message, adding he could not share additional details about being in touch with state, local or federal law enforcement, other than to acknowledge that he is “taking precaution with the Capitol Police and otherwise to keep my family and me safe.”
He said he has not spoken with the White House on Thursday following the post.
“Let’s start with what he said, which he called for my hanging and my death along with several of my colleagues,” Deluzio said. “And it’s a dark day in the country for any president to say such a thing.”
“We have to end this scourge. And yet Donald Trump is the person with the most power who can bring the temperature down, and instead, he threatens to have us killed,” he said. “So for me, it’s not about me, it’s not about my colleagues. This is about the country, whether we’re gonna have a Constitution that means something, and I’m not going to be intimidated.”
