President Donald Trump reiterated in a radio interview Friday that he believes a video statement put out by Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds — which called on service members to “resist” the Trump Administration over undefined “illegal” orders — amounted to “treasonous” behavior. The president added that War Secretary Pete Hegseth is currently investigating the matter, which could lead to discipline from “military courts.”
The controversy erupted earlier this week when Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and a number of House Democrats, all of whom have backgrounds in the military or intelligence community, released a video in which they urged military personnel to disobey “illegal” orders.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now, Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk. 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,” the lawmakers said in the video.
“Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear,” they added. “You can refuse illegal orders…you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
A number of senior White House officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and President Trump himself, have described the video as “seditious” and called for investigations. “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH,” the president posted on Truth Social after the video was released.
During an appearance on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Friday, the president doubled down on his comments and suggested that investigations are underway.
“Well, if you look at sedition, if you look at, uh, you know, that type of, it’s a form of a very strong form of being a traitor. It’s a terrible thing to say. I must tell you, I heard it and I thought it was some kind of a comedy situation. I thought that would, you know, it was some kind of a skit and cause I couldn’t believe that they’d say it,” Trump said.
“And I watched Democrat congressmen and one Democrat Senator yesterday in one of the shows Didn’t even want to discuss it. They said, whoa, don’t get me into that one. They didn’t want to get into it. That is a really serious charge. I’ll tell you what, what they said is, and it was, I mean, I don’t know about the modern day things because, you know, modern day is a lot softer. But in the old days, if you said anything like that, that was punishable by death.”
The president went on to state that the six lawmakers are in “serious trouble,” adding, “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death.”
He went on to suggest that War Secretary Pete Hegseth is actively investigating the matter. “I know they’re looking into it militarily. I don’t know for a fact, but I think the military is looking into it, the military courts,” he added.
Ohhhh boy… see where this is going?
#BREAKING – President Trump says the U.S. Military Courts are looking into the Democrats Seditious Behavior
Trump was asked if he worries there will be Military Personel who will disobey Direct Orders?
“NO, I don’t worry about… https://t.co/CS5NaR572E pic.twitter.com/9wuht6k3zR
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) November 21, 2025
The Democrats in question have repeatedly doubled down on their comments and have accused the president of “threatening” them. The lawmakers have also yet to articulate what the “illegal” orders that should be resisted even are, though the comments do come as the War Department has carried out nearly two dozen strikes on drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has described the video as “abhorrent” and likened it to “a propaganda video by one of our enemies trying to recruit the military to become spies.”
“What is the reason that they all went on a video and encouraged young men and women to defy court orders without even giving a hint of what’s illegal, without even giving any suggestion of what law or what order they’re being asked to violate. You cannot do that in this country, especially if you’re a leader,” he told Fox News on Thursday before suggesting that the Justice Department is probing the matter.
“And so what does the investigation look like? I think they should be held to account. I think that those congressmen should be required to answer questions about why they did what they did, and the American people deserve that, and so does President Trump.”
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