Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) says he is “not backing down” from telling U.S. soldiers to refuse to obey President Donald Trump’s so-called “illegal orders,” even as he admits that he can’t name any such orders that has given.
The Senator, who is a retired Naval captain, joined the left-wing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and addressed his controversial call for the military to refuse their commander-in-chief’s orders.
“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,” Sen. Kelly told Kimmel.
Kelly is referring to a video he participated in along with five other lawmakers who are urging soldiers to refuse to follow the orders of their superiors. Along with Kelly, the video also featured statements from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Jason Crow (D-CO).
Since the video went live on social media, the Trump administration and the Department of War announced that Kelly is now under review for a possible court martial over “serious allegations of misconduct.”
But in his appearances on the Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kelly clapped back at the allegations that he is breaking the code of military conduct.
“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 shit up,” the Democrat said.
Kelly added that he feels that the Trump administration is somehow violating the U.S. Constitution.
“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.
Kelly accused Trump of trying to destroy “democracy.”
“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 exclaimed.
However, Kelly also appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show and admitted that he could not name a single “illegal order” that he thinks Donald Trump has issued to the military.
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