Snippet from this article: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over a video that urges American troops to defy “illegal orders” has raised a slew of questions, and some criticism, from legal experts.
Some say the Pentagon is misreading military law to go after Kelly as a retired Navy fighter pilot. Others say the Arizona Democrat cannot be prosecuted as a member of Congress. A group of former military prosecutors insists he did nothing wrong.
The Pentagon announced the investigation last week after President Donald Trump’s social media post accusing Kelly — and the five other Democratic lawmakers in the video — of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Kelly was facing investigation because he is the only one in that group who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.
Kelly dismissed the inquiry as the work of “bullies” and said it would not deter him and other members of Congress “from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable.”
WhiteSpots on
Guess we gotta punish the experts too
/s
Cattywompus-thirdeye on
Doubt? No they can not legally do shit. All he did was state a fact.
ItzyCritzySpider on
“Experts doubt”*—*hey. There’s no fucking loophole that warrants the ambiguity. The Pentagon literally can’t do anything *legally* for telling servicemembers to remember their oath and follow the UCMJ. It’s not a fucking question, this isn’t something we haven’t thought of yet, the Pentagon literally cannot do anything.
This is all fucking theater.
Diced_and_Confused on
Living with Trump is punishment enough.
diligent_twerker on
How is this even a question? Suggesting people follow the law is…checks notes…. Against the law?
Expensive_Ninja420 on
Experts are short selling this administrations capability for cruelty and utter disregard of the law
Tokie-Dokie on
“Don’t break the law.”
“TREASON!”
jrsinhbca on
It was theater for the MAGA cult.
Bishopjones2112 on
Of course they can’t legitimately punish him because all he said was the policy. You don’t have to follow illegal orders. The republicans automatically assume that means don’t follow Trumps orders. So yeah. Kelly pretty much just said water is wet. If republicans want him charged good luck but if it does happen it will be all made up crap
Pale-Assistance-2905 on
Based on the Hegseth reveal, the suggestion to not follow orders that would have a soldier do something illegal was not hypothetical. Soldiers who refused to murder someone should know that all US senators, not just Kelly, have their backs.
dbuck1964 on
He (they) knew something before we did, and reminded the troops of their duty. MAGA blows a gasket, and then we find out why he said what he said, realizing that there are now a lot of soldiers in legal jeopardy. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
KoalaRashCream on
The UCMJ is explicit about “lawful orders” so this whole thing is just to make power rabble
rapidcreek409 on
Among many other reasons, no flag officers would agree to sit on the court marshal.
Asluckwouldnthaveit on
Great. They can have a shocked pikiachu face about it when it happens anyways.
kicaboojooce on
I thought the Nuremburg trials settled this discussion?
poppup77 on
You know you live in a 24 hour news cycle, where every other article is about expert says this, or legal mind slam that, as if any of the fucking laws matter in 2025
Supreme Court justice nominations stated under oath in their confirmation hearings the abortion issue was set and its legal precedent. And they wouldn’t vote to change anything. Clearly they lied when they voted to change things. seems like that would be grounds for immediate dismissal. A Supreme Court justice willingly committing perjury on televised testimony means we don’t live in a land of laws.
MoneyAgent4616 on
We need new experts because anyone who thinks this administration gives two shits about cans and cants at this point is genuinely braindead. Lot of experts said the administration couldn’t kidnap people off the streets, throw them into camps and then disappear them. These experts are worthless.
PsychGuy17 on
Once upon a time, there was a military hero out of Arizona who stood for honor and decency among the political landscape. He was respected enough to gain his party’s nomination for president. For me, he was the only republican I would have considered voting for, but he was up against the strongest democratic candidate in decades and let his people select the worst running mate until recent history.
I miss John McCain and the balance he brought to the world. I hope we can continue to watch Kelly rise in the same way.
I’m also sorry that this came about largely due to his wife suffering from political gun violence, and Kelly is stepping in where she had to leave off.
homebrew_1 on
Harassment is the point.
7r1ck573r on
“Experts claims that the illegal things that the administration do since the start, cannot be done because they are illegal. In other news: laymen watch what is happening before their eyes and understands that even if something is illegal, it doesn’t stop the Pentagon from doing it.”
BarkerBarkhan on
They can try, but it would most likely end similarly to their cases against Comey and James.
CountOnBeingAwesome on
Non-expert here. No you can’t punish people from reading the law
Rusty_Thermos on
Experts probably doubted the video would be problematic in the first place.
justahdewd on
He’d be a great candidate, but just like America won’t elect a woman president, I’m not sure if we’d elect a bald guy.
MySixHourErection on
Legal experts, experts in general, have not averaged well this year.
Acrobatic_Flan2582 on
Many great legal scholars > “experts” .
citizenjones on
Any citizen can remind elected officials of the oath they took.
Different_Victory_89 on
In the army a long time ago. Even then it was established fact, repeated by our superiors, you did not have to follow an illegal order. How times have changed.
Mbroov1 on
There is no “doubt”, they literally CANNOT.
anticrom2 on
AP is publishing these stupid headlines now? We’ve sunk so low
oldcreaker on
He basically said “do what you vowed to do when you joined the military”.
32 Comments
Snippet from this article: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over a video that urges American troops to defy “illegal orders” has raised a slew of questions, and some criticism, from legal experts.
Some say the Pentagon is misreading military law to go after Kelly as a retired Navy fighter pilot. Others say the Arizona Democrat cannot be prosecuted as a member of Congress. A group of former military prosecutors insists he did nothing wrong.
The Pentagon announced the investigation last week after President Donald Trump’s social media post accusing Kelly — and the five other Democratic lawmakers in the video — of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Kelly was facing investigation because he is the only one in that group who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.
Kelly dismissed the inquiry as the work of “bullies” and said it would not deter him and other members of Congress “from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable.”
Guess we gotta punish the experts too
/s
Doubt? No they can not legally do shit. All he did was state a fact.
“Experts doubt”*—*hey. There’s no fucking loophole that warrants the ambiguity. The Pentagon literally can’t do anything *legally* for telling servicemembers to remember their oath and follow the UCMJ. It’s not a fucking question, this isn’t something we haven’t thought of yet, the Pentagon literally cannot do anything.
This is all fucking theater.
Living with Trump is punishment enough.
How is this even a question? Suggesting people follow the law is…checks notes…. Against the law?
Experts are short selling this administrations capability for cruelty and utter disregard of the law
“Don’t break the law.”
“TREASON!”
It was theater for the MAGA cult.
Of course they can’t legitimately punish him because all he said was the policy. You don’t have to follow illegal orders. The republicans automatically assume that means don’t follow Trumps orders. So yeah. Kelly pretty much just said water is wet. If republicans want him charged good luck but if it does happen it will be all made up crap
Based on the Hegseth reveal, the suggestion to not follow orders that would have a soldier do something illegal was not hypothetical. Soldiers who refused to murder someone should know that all US senators, not just Kelly, have their backs.
He (they) knew something before we did, and reminded the troops of their duty. MAGA blows a gasket, and then we find out why he said what he said, realizing that there are now a lot of soldiers in legal jeopardy. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
The UCMJ is explicit about “lawful orders” so this whole thing is just to make power rabble
Among many other reasons, no flag officers would agree to sit on the court marshal.
Great. They can have a shocked pikiachu face about it when it happens anyways.
I thought the Nuremburg trials settled this discussion?
You know you live in a 24 hour news cycle, where every other article is about expert says this, or legal mind slam that, as if any of the fucking laws matter in 2025
Supreme Court justice nominations stated under oath in their confirmation hearings the abortion issue was set and its legal precedent. And they wouldn’t vote to change anything. Clearly they lied when they voted to change things. seems like that would be grounds for immediate dismissal. A Supreme Court justice willingly committing perjury on televised testimony means we don’t live in a land of laws.
We need new experts because anyone who thinks this administration gives two shits about cans and cants at this point is genuinely braindead. Lot of experts said the administration couldn’t kidnap people off the streets, throw them into camps and then disappear them. These experts are worthless.
Once upon a time, there was a military hero out of Arizona who stood for honor and decency among the political landscape. He was respected enough to gain his party’s nomination for president. For me, he was the only republican I would have considered voting for, but he was up against the strongest democratic candidate in decades and let his people select the worst running mate until recent history.
I miss John McCain and the balance he brought to the world. I hope we can continue to watch Kelly rise in the same way.
I’m also sorry that this came about largely due to his wife suffering from political gun violence, and Kelly is stepping in where she had to leave off.
Harassment is the point.
“Experts claims that the illegal things that the administration do since the start, cannot be done because they are illegal. In other news: laymen watch what is happening before their eyes and understands that even if something is illegal, it doesn’t stop the Pentagon from doing it.”
They can try, but it would most likely end similarly to their cases against Comey and James.
Non-expert here. No you can’t punish people from reading the law
Experts probably doubted the video would be problematic in the first place.
He’d be a great candidate, but just like America won’t elect a woman president, I’m not sure if we’d elect a bald guy.
Legal experts, experts in general, have not averaged well this year.
Many great legal scholars > “experts” .
Any citizen can remind elected officials of the oath they took.
In the army a long time ago. Even then it was established fact, repeated by our superiors, you did not have to follow an illegal order. How times have changed.
There is no “doubt”, they literally CANNOT.
AP is publishing these stupid headlines now? We’ve sunk so low
He basically said “do what you vowed to do when you joined the military”.