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Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., dug in on his call for the military to reject “illegal orders” during an interview with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, saying, “I’m not backing down.”
“You can’t keep track of this guy and what he says. I’ll tell you this though, I’m not backing down. We said something very simple. Members of the military need to follow the law. We wanted to say that we have their backs. His response, kill them,” Kelly told the late-night host, referring to President Donald Trump.
A group of six lawmakers appeared in a video posted on social media encouraging service members to “refuse illegal orders.” The video led to Trump accusing the Democratic lawmakers of “sedition,” after he initially reacted to the video by saying, “punishable by DEATH.”
The Department of War announced Monday that it has opened a formal review into allegations of misconduct against Kelly, a retired Navy officer and former astronaut, over the video. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth criticized a post Kelly made about his service, telling the lawmaker, “you can’t even display your uniform correctly.”
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ‘NOT AWARE’ IF TRUMP GAVE ANY ILLEGAL MILITARY ORDERS AMID VIDEO CONTROVERSY
Kelly hit back at Hegseth’s criticism during his conversation with Kimmel.
“This is what he can do this week, go after me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is a law in the military, which is kind of wild because we recited something in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and he is going to prosecute me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for reciting the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It is so ridiculous, it is like you can’t make this s— up,” Kelly said.
Kimmel asked Kelly if he was “actually worried” about the response from the Trump administration.
“What I am worried about is the reaction and what this transmits to the military and the public, which is basically, shut up and listen to that guy. That is not the way our system works. My oath and every member of the military took is loyalty to the Constitution, not to a person. He is trying to get some fear out there, and fear can be contagious, but what also can be contagious is courage and patriotism,” he said.
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Kimmel said people were worried about speaking out and called it “flat-out un-American.”
“It is how democracy dies. It is right out of the playbook. The playbook of authoritarianism, that’s what they do. They try to suppress speech. Every one of us has First Amendment speech rights. I think the president is infringing on those, and he is sending a strong message, you don’t want to cross him and your loyalty should be to him. It should not. It always should be to the Constitution,” Kelly added.
HEGSETH SEEKS BRIEFING ON SEN MARK KELLY ‘DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP’ VIRAL VIDEO
Kelly also spoke to MS NOW host Rachel Maddow on Monday, telling her, “I will not be intimidated.”
“I said something that was pretty simple and non-controversial, and that was that members of the military should follow the law. And in response to that, Donald Trump said, I should be executed, I should be hanged. I should be prosecuted,” he said. “I’m not going to be silenced. I’m not going to be intimidated.”
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The Department of War declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital.
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