President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Aurora Congressperson Jason Crow and five other Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the 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 early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark 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 American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution,” Slotkin wrote in the X post.
Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his MAGA base. Some Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
“We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation,” the Democrats said in a joint statement. “This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.”
What Democrats said in the video
With pieces of dialogue spliced together from different members, the lawmakers introduce themselves and their background. They go on to say the Trump administration “is pitting our uniformed military against American citizens. They call for service members to “refuse illegal orders” and “stand up for our laws.”
The lawmakers conclude the video by encouraging service members, “Don’t give up the ship,” a War of 1812-era phrase attributed to a U.S. Navy captain’s dying command to his crew.
Although the lawmakers didn’t mention specific circumstances in the video, its release comes as the Trump administration continues attempts at deployment of National Guard troops into U.S. cities for various roles, although some have been pulled back, and others held up in court.
Are U.S. troops allowed to disobey orders?
Troops, especially uniformed commanders, have a specific obligation to reject an order that’s unlawful, if they make that determination.
However, while commanders have military lawyers on their staffs to consult with in helping make such a determination, rank-and-file troops who are tasked with carrying out those orders are rarely in a similar position.
Broad legal precedence holds that just following orders, colloquially known as the “Nuremberg defense” as it was used unsuccessfully by senior Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler, doesn’t absolve troops.
However, the U.S. military legal code, known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice or UCMJ, will punish troops for failing to follow an order should it turn out to be lawful. Troops can be criminally charged with Article 90 of the UCMJ, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, and Article 92, failure to obey an order.
How Trump and others responded
On Thursday, Trump reposted to social media an article about the video, adding his own commentary that it was “really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!!” Trump went on. “LOCK THEM UP???” He called for the lawmakers’ arrest and trial, adding in a separate post that it was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.”
Trump also reposted more than a dozen comments from other accounts criticizing Democrats, including one that stated “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Asked during a White House briefing on Thursday about the intent of Trump’s messages, press secretary Karoline Leavitt instead honed in on the Democrats’ message, which she posited “perhaps is punishable by law.” Leavitt went on to say that any incitement to “defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders” is “a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do, and they should be held accountable, and that’s what the president wants to see.”
Democrats were swift to react to Trump’s words, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warning in a floor speech that the president was “lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said he did not believe Trump was calling for violence in the social media posts, saying Trump was merely “defining a crime,” and calling the Democrats’ video “wildly inappropriate.”
“Think of the threat that is to our national security and what it means for our institution,” Johnson added.
Trump’s allies balked at the video. On Wednesday on Fox News, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the messaging “insurrection — plainly, directly, without question” and said it represented “a general call for rebellion from the CIA and the armed services of the United States, by Democrat lawmakers.”
On X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commented on the video Tuesday as “Stage 4 TDS,” referring to “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — a term used by Trump to describe voters so angry and opposed to him that they are incapable of seeing any good in what he does.
The Steady State, which describes itself as “a network of 300+ national and homeland security experts standing for strong and principled policy, rule of law, and democracy,” wrote in a Substack post on Thursday that the lawmakers’ call was “only a restatement of what every officer and enlisted servicemember already knows: illegal orders can and should be refused. This is not a political opinion. It is doctrine.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell challenged the theory that illegal orders were being issued.
“Our military follows orders, and our civilians give legal orders,” Parnell told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We love the Constitution. These politicians are out of their minds.”
The accused Democrats said they will persist.
“In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated.”
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
If Crow can’t stay in his lane as a legislator, he needs to step down. This video was a political stunt straight up– born out of a total disregard for the Constitution and the separation of powers.
He and his colleagues are free to disagree on policy. They’re free to criticize. But they have no basis whatsoever to directly interfere en masse with the command chain. None. In our country, judges and juries determine legality — not legislators.
Sadly, while I respect and thank Crow for his years of service, this video borders on sedition and most certainly harms our military.
Ditto
LOL, of course it was first posted by Elissa Slotkin, the ex-CIA operative.
Sorry, kids, you don’t get to incite mutiny and seditious conspiracy without some pushback, no matter what uniform you used to wear, especially when the target of your rhetoric was already nearly assassinated. Besides, their own side’s violent rhetoric for the last five years has already gotten people killed.
These people must be desperate if they’re reduced to begging American troops to disobey lawful orders. The Democratic party is not a political hegemon, no matter how much they wish it was so, and their pathetic unity-criticism-unity tactic couldn’t be more transparent if it was Saran Wrap.
Is there a Trump dinosaur archaeologists missed? What century is this flake from?
It would be sweet justice to see them tried, found guilty, and executed. Liberals have allowed their TDS to make them certifiably insane.
Any sliver of respect I had left for Mr. Crow was decimated by his latest comment. I bet he is the pride of his unit.
This isn’t complicated. Donald Trump is the President of the United States. Elected fairly (not aware that his election has been disputed). That voters have regrets (including Democrats who really had no choice because with Kamala Harris [unqualified] was no choice; though I voted for her) is a fact. I have regrets. But we remedy this in 2028… hoping we have REAL choices then. But Trump is POTUS and that makes him Commander-in-Chief. And what Crow and others is suggesting is sedition and traitorous. In this case, aside form if their efforts are successful, death is hyperbole. But it’s wrong what they’ve done. We need to support out President and stop undermining his authority. Weird and goofy as he is (and he is), actually things are better… surprising he is doing a lot of good.
You would have been a big help in 1776. You’d have liked Parliament, and voted against Americans every time.
Pathetic.
BTW, you really trust this guy until 2028? Are you watching?
I grew up in the Boston area. Where the shot heard round the world was fired.
You would have been garbed in a red coat, doing the king”s bidding.
Trump calling others out for sedition is laughable. A draft dodger calling balls and strikes on active duty situations is egregious. It was clear the conditional requirement to disobey an order was it’s illegality. Catch 22 if it is deemed legal then that’s serious.
LOL, the President’s active duty history is immaterial to their assessment of calling balls and strikes on active duty situations, doofy. All of a sudden your side is crashing out about “consequence culture” when it’s your goose being cooked.
In case anyone was wondering, it goes against the constitution to use troops against US citizens. Despite what the MAGA morons say Trump is not King George. For those of you who never cracked a history book, King George was the King of England who’s actions stirred the Founders to declare independence.
In case anyone was wondering, US troops have been deployed to enforce federal law and keep order, which can be easily found by cracking open a history book.
Feel free to declare independence at any time, Mikey.
Mikey- Perhaps you missed history class the week where the the teacher covered the Civil War.
Initially South Carolina thought the supremacy clause in the Constitution really didn’t apply to them. The state then lost 18,000 troops battling the Union Army before surrendering.
So when are Polis, Johnston and Crow raising the Confederate flag over the state capitol? And who exactly is volunteering to die in their rebellion?
It’s not surprising to see all the sycophant bootlickers showing up to stand with the pumpkin king. How you people convince yourself to believe what you do is god’s own mystery. And if you’re one of those ‘i love the constitution more than you’ folks, please stop kidding yourself. You’re not fooling anyone.
It’s also not surprising to see all the mutiny and seditious conspiracy supporters showing up to say that disobeying lawful orders is a-okay if you just call them “unlawful.” How you people convince yourself to believe what you do is god’s own mystery. And considering your side doesn’t even like this country and complains that the Constitution is a “racist, undemocratic document,” you’re certainly in no position to appeal to something you hate.
The U.S. Manual of Courts Martial states service members have a duty to disobey an order that “a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know to be illegal.” Anyone who remembers the Vietnam My Lai massacre led by Lt. William Calley might agree it was an illegal act. Although it rarely happens our military is capable of illegal acts, especially in combat situations. The Democrat veterans like our Congressman should have taken the time to do some research and quote the U.S. Manual of Courts Martial rather than a generic sound bite it’s not illegal to disobey orders. Not giving examples an enlisted service member authorized to use lethal force could use as a guideline was very bad politics. Trump exacerbated the situation.