- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Sen. Mark Kelly for urging troops to defy illegal orders.
- Kelly criticized the move as an attack by Trump and Hegseth.
- The Pentagon is investigating Kelly's actions, raising legal and constitutional questions.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday announced that he is issuing a letter of censure to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over the lawmaker's participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
Hegseth said that the censure was "a necessary process step" to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly's retired rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.
In a lengthy post on X, Kelly said he "never expected" what he called an "attack" from Trump and Hegseth, recounting his 25 years of Navy service, as well as combat and space missions. Calling Hegseth's move "outrageous" and "un-American," Kelly said he would fight the censure "with everything I've got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don't get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government."
The move comes more than a month after Kelly participated in a video with five other Democratic lawmakers in which they called on troops to defy "illegal orders." President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition "punishable by DEATH" in a social media post days later.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York called Hegseth's action against Kelly "a despicable act of political retribution."
"Mark Kelly is a hero and a patriot committed to serving the American people," Schumer said on social media. "Pete Hegseth is a lap dog committed to serving one man – Donald Trump."
In November, Kelly and the other lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy "illegal orders."
The 90-second video was first posted from Sen. Elissa Slotkin's X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Kelly and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are "under enormous stress and pressure right now."
The Pentagon announced that it began an investigation of Kelly late in November while citing a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court-martial or other measures.
While all six lawmakers served in the military or the intelligence community, Hegseth made clear in previous remarks that Kelly was the only one facing investigation because he is the only one of the lawmakers who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon's jurisdiction.
Kelly said that the investigation was part of an effort to silence dissent within the military.
"This is just about sending a message to retired service members, active duty service members, government employees — do not speak out against this president or there will be consequences," Kelly told reporters in mid-December.
In his post Monday, Hegseth charged that Kelly's remarks in the video and afterward violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice provisions against conduct unbecoming an officer and violating good order and discipline.
Hegseth said Monday that "Captain Kelly's status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action."
Todd Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general, said that this is a "novel" situation that raises legal questions.
One issue, according to Huntley, is whether Kelly's comments fall under the constitutional protections of the speech or debate clause.
The clause is intended to protect members of Congress from questioning about official legislative acts, and a 1968 Supreme Court decision wrote that the provision's intent was "to prevent legislative intimidation by and accountability to the other branches of government."
Huntley also said that while the type of process Hegseth is using here, known as a retirement grade determination, is fairly routine, "as far as I know, they've always been based on conduct during the individual's active duty service, even if it only came to light after retirement."
"So, I don't know if conduct totally after retirement would fit the requirement for such a determination," he added.
According to Hegseth, Kelly now has 30 days to submit a response to the proceedings that will decide if he is demoted. The decision will be made within 45 days, Hegseth's post added.
Contributing: Stephen Groves
