Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) pointedly criticized the Pentagon for launching a misconduct investigation into him on Monday, assuring that he won’t be intimidated by the Trump administration.
When asked by MS NOW host Rachel Maddow if the newly announced inquiry has been stressful for him and his family, Kelly shrugged it off by looking back at his time in the military when he was under enemy fire.
“I’ve had a missile blow up next to my airplane. I’ve been nearly shot down multiple times. I’ve flown a rocket ship into space four times, built by the lowest bidder,” the senator said in the interview.
“I’m not going to be silenced here,” he added. “Is it stressful? I’ve been stressed by things more important than Donald Trump trying to intimidate me into shutting my mouth and not doing my job.”
Kelly says he knows what political violence looks like because his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), was critically injured after getting shot in the head in 2011. He went on to claim President Donald Trump is inciting violence.
The senator’s comments reference Trump’s recent Truth Social posts in which he suggested six Democrats, including Kelly, should be tried for “seditious behavior” because they advised military and intelligence personnel in a video to disobey the Trump administration’s unlawful orders.
Kelly and the other lawmakers — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) — made the plea as veterans themselves last week.
By Monday, the Department of War opened a “thorough review” of Kelly over “serious allegations of misconduct” related to his involvement in the video.
The review will “determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures,” the department said on social media.
Active-duty and retired military service members remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice for applicable offenses, meaning they are legally obligated to obey lawful orders. The department noted its orders are already presumed to be lawful.
Kelly, who first learned of the Pentagon’s investigation on social media, vowed to remain defiant against the Trump administration.
“He didn’t like what I said,” Kelly said of Trump on MS NOW. “I’m going to show up for work every day, support the Constitution, do my job, hold this administration accountable, hold this president accountable when he is out of line. That’s the responsibility of every U.S. senator and every member of Congress. He’s not going to silence us.”
PENTAGON ANNOUNCES ‘THOROUGH REVIEW’ INTO MARK KELLY OVER ‘ILLEGAL ORDERS’ VIDEO
While many Democrats vocally opposed the investigation, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) is among the conservative figures who also disagreed with the move.
“Amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense,” Bacon said on X, intentionally misspelling the Department of Defense to make his point. “I thought the video by six Dems was unnecessary and foolish. But the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy. Let’s show some common sense and restraint.”