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, “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.”
Hours after the president’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 the president posted his message this morning, 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 president’s 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.”
Asked by reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday to respond to Trump’s posts, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., demurred, simply saying, “I know the DOJ and the Pentagon are looking into the legality of all that.”
He went on to criticize the lawmakers in the video, telling reporters that their message was “wildly inappropriate,” “dangerous” and “unprecedented in American history.”
Democratic leaders in and out of Washington condemned Trump’s posts Thursday, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other Democratic leaders in the House writing in a statement that they condemn Trump’s “disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress.”
Jeffries and other Democratic leaders added that they’ve been in touch with United States Capitol Police about members’ safety because of increased threats.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spoke about the posts Thursday on the Senate floor, saying, “The president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials. This is an outright threat, and it’s deadly serious.”
“When Donald Trump uses the language of execution and treason, some of his supporters may very well listen,” Schumer added. “He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline.”
Later, Schumer told reporters that he has asked the U.S. Capitol Police to provide “special protection and keep an eye on Slotkin and Kelly.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro defended two members of his state’s congressional delegation who were in the video — Houlahan and Deluzio — in a post on X on Thursday, saying that Trump “called for violence” against the two lawmakers.
“Not only has the President failed in his responsibility to lead this country — he is actively encouraging political violence once again, ratcheting up the real risk of danger to our elected leaders and deepening the divides in our country,” Shapiro wrote. “The sycophants and enablers the President surrounds himself with are quick to condemn language like this when it suits their political purposes — but in moments like this, they remain silent.”
In a video posted on X on Thursday, Slotkin said that the president’s response to her video was about how Americans engage with people they disagree with.
“I would hope that people of all backgrounds, Democrat, Republican, independent, would agree that threatening death for people you disagree with is beyond the pale of who we are as Americans,” she said.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters that the president’s posts “puts all of our lives in jeopardy.”
“This is perhaps the most reckless, irresponsible thing that he has done all Congress, and it’s going to get a lot of us killed,” Murphy added.
“Democrats in the Congress are on the phone with their chiefs of staff, beefing up our security for this weekend and next week, because the President has a lot of unhinged supporters out there. The President just told them that Democratic members of the Senate and the House should be executed,” he added.
The president’s posts come amid growing concerns over political violence after the high-profile murders of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and a Minnesota lawmaker, the arson attack on Shapiro’s home, as well as two assassination attempts against Trump.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, Trump lashed out at Democrats and accused the left of being primarily responsible for political violence, despite political violence having targeted both sides of the political aisle.
NBC News polling indicates that a growing number of Americans view extreme political rhetoric as an important contributor to high-profile political attacks.
Over the weekend, former Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said that she was facing increased levels of threats after the president posted unfavorably about her on Truth Social. Several Indiana GOP lawmakers have also faced swatting attempts on their homes after the president criticized them for breaking with him on redistricting in their state.
Source link
