Policy / January 5, 2026
But the Navy veteran insists he will continue to speak out against illegal military orders.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a press conference following U.S. military actions in Venezuela, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, January 3, 2026.
(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to investigate and possibly even court-martial Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, after he joined five other Democrats at a video informing soldiers that they have the right to refuse illegal orders of their commanders last November.
Monday, Hegseth officially “censored” Kelly and announced that his military pension would be reduced. “[Kelly] published a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth said in a statement. Kelly could also face a reduction in his captaincy upon retirement, he added. But so far, Hegseth has taken no steps toward initiating court-martial proceedings.
The former Fox News host stood just alongside President Trump when he announced the illegal capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on drug charges (and the clear subtext of mismanagement of the country’s oil resources). The months-long large-scale military and intelligence action in Venezuela has proven that, so far, few U.S. security personnel are listening to Kelly and his fellow veterans about the imperative need to refuse illegal orders. There may well be more opportunities, as Trump says he could follow his actions in Venezuela with similar measures against Cuba, Colombia, Greenland and even Mexico.
Kelly quickly fired back at Hegseth Monday morning on
For twenty-five years in the United States Navy, thirty-nine combat missions and four missions in space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution – including every American’s First Amendment right to speak. I did not expect that the president of the…
– Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) January 5, 2026 He continued:
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If Pete Hegseth, the least qualified Secretary of Defense in our nation’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with censure or threats to demote me or sue me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I have – not for myself, but to send the message that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump cannot decide what Americans in this country have to say about their government.
The five other Democratic members of Congress with military and security backgrounds who joined Kelly on the video are Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. After the video was released, Trump said on Truth Social that the security veterans’ actions could be “punishable by DEATH.”
Because the other five abandoned their military careers rather than retire with their rank intact and a pension, they are not subject to the same military discipline as Kelly.
American Major General Paul Eaton warned repeatedly against Hegseth’s politicization of the military, pointing to his decisions to replace the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior Army and Navy leaders as “a throwback to Stalin,” the Soviet leader who purged countless military officials and replaced them with men whose greatest loyalty was to him.
Trump, of course, has tried to retaliate against other political foes, including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Senator Adam Schiff, but so far judges and grand juries have resisted his maneuvers (which hasn’t stopped Trump from trying to go after them again).
For now some news accounts have suggested that Hegseth has backed off the threat of a court-martial against Kelly, but the secretary insists he continues to consider his options, especially if Kelly continues to encourage the military to ignore illegal orders. Kelly’s Monday statement gave no sign that he plans to stop criticizing Trump and Hegseth and their illegal orders to the military anytime soon.
Jeanne Walsh Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent for The Nationis co-producer of The sit-in: Harry Belafonte hosts the Tonight Show and the author of What’s wrong with white people? Finding our way in the next America. His new book (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) is Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the lies and half-truths that protect profit, power and wealth in America.