Navy delivers report to Hegseth on potential punishment for Sen. Mark Kelly over ‘illegal orders’ video
The US Navy has submitted recommendations on possible penalties for Democratic Senator Mark Kelly’s participation in a video reminding US soldiers that they have a duty to refuse illegal orders, a Pentagon official told CNN on Thursday.
Those recommendations were submitted to the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel, where “legal review and input was provided,” the official said.
CNN has reached out to Kelly’s office for comment. It is not yet clear which recommendations are included in the report.
Late last month Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advice requested from the Secretary of the Navy, who oversees the military branch where Kelly served for more than two decades, on how to potentially punish Kelly for participating in the video, which Hegseth claims constitutes a serious violation of the military’s rules of justice.
“I refer this and other related matters for your review, consideration, and disposition as you deem appropriate,” Hegseth wrote in a Nov. 25 memo to the Navy secretary.
inside The video that triggered the Trump administration’s calls As a result, six Democratic lawmakers said “threats to our Constitution” were coming “from here, from home” and repeatedly called on the military and intelligence community to “reject illegal orders.”
Although the video does not address what potentially illegal orders service members received, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have repeatedly expressed concern about the legality of U.S. military strikes against them. Suspicious drug boats in the Caribbean and the deployment of the US military to cities over the protest of governors.
The Trump administration argued that Kelly and other Democratic lawmakers encouraged service members to disobey lawful orders by emphasizing service members’ legal duty not to comply with illegal orders. President Donald Trump called the video “inflammatory behavior of the highest order.”
Kelly’s role in the video is being “reviewed” by the Pentagon rather than being subject to a formal investigation, a source familiar with Hegseth’s thinking previously told CNN; This means that the military police were not involved.
Behind closed doors, Hegseth is considering options to punish Kelly for participating in the video, CNN reported; These options range from reducing the retired U.S. Navy captain’s rank and pension to prosecuting him under military law.
Hegseth has argued in various public messages that Kelly’s comments violated various statutes of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which establishes legal requirements for those in the military.
The source familiar with Hegseth’s thinking said Hegseth found in Kelly a critic worth emulating and could technically use the military justice system to do so. Legal experts told CNN that, unlike the other five Democrats appearing in the video, Kelly is a military retiree, meaning he served long enough to receive a pension and is therefore still bound by the UCMJ, including restrictions on free speech.
Legal experts said Kelly could be recalled to active service and court-martialed for his condition, but doing so would be extraordinary given his role in the video. This is not only because the UCMJ has been used in recent years to prosecute veterans who committed crimes abroad outside of U.S. civilian jurisdiction, but also because Kelly is a U.S. senator.
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