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Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (D) appears to be doubling down on his previous statements that encouraged U.S. servicemembers and those within the U.S. intelligence community to disobey so-called “illegal” orders from the President of the United States.
In a new interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Kelly was asked to discuss this concept that he initially introduced with other Democratic lawmakers in a video, in which they ambiguously urged military men and women and national security members to disobey “illegal” orders, although they failed to specify which orders they were referring to.
He suggested that U.S. troops could simply say, “I’m not going to do that, that’s against the law,” when it came to orders they believed might be illegal.
“It puts a lot of burden on the troops to make a decision in real time,” said NBC’s Kristen Welker.
“It puts a tremendous amount of burden on officers in the military, but that is their responsibility, and they can figure out…a reasonable person can tell that something is legal and something is illegal,” he suggested.
When Welker asked Kelly point-blank if he would decline to obey a direct command ordering him to attack alleged drug boats, he changed tack, remarking, “The difference between the initial strike and what is being reported, you know, as a second strike, and these things are different. I think this administration has tied itself in knots!”
He declined to answer the question and then said, “My concern is with the servicemembers, that we’re going to put these individuals in a really, really tough place and they may find out down the road that they did something that is illegal; it is not fair to them.”
TPUSA spokesperson and executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Andrew Kolvet, reacted to Kelly’s comments on X, arguing, “Sen. Mark Kelly is now basically threatening servicemembers to defy President Trump’s orders, or else face potential prosecutions when Democrats are back in power. This is seeding the ground for a Third World style military seizure of civil authority.”
As reported by RSBN, Sen. Kelly is under active investigation by the Department of War for his initial comments regarding “illegal” orders. Kelly, who is a retired U.S. Navy Captain, could even be recalled to active duty for a potential court-martial, according to the DOW, if the department deems it necessary.
