President Donald Trump speaks during the Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center on Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday called for the arrest of a group of Democratic lawmakers who served in the military and intelligence community after they released a video urging service members to resist unlawful orders.
Trump in a flurry of posts on social media described the video as “seditious behavior” that is “punishable by death” and accused the six Democrats who appeared in it of being “traitors” whose words “cannot be allowed to stand.”
“An example MUST BE SET,” he wrote in one post.
The video released Tuesday included Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who previously worked as a CIA analyst, and Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Navy veteran; and Reps. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, a former Navy reservist; Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, a former Air Force officer; Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger; and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, a Navy veteran.
“Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home,” Deluzio and Crow say in the video.
“Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly says.
The video does not specify which orders might be illegal but mentions that the Trump administration is “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday argued that “every single order” given to the military through Trump is lawful and accused Democrats of encouraging troops to defy the president.
“We have 1.3 million active-duty service members in this country and if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress, that could inspire chaos and it could incite violence and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command,” she said.
In a joint statement released Thursday, the Democrats in the video said they will not be intimidated by Trump’s calls for “our murder.”
“What’s most telling is that the president considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,” they said. “Our service members should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.”
Leavitt denied in a briefing with reporters that Trump wanted to execute members of Congress but said the Democrats’ message “perhaps is punishable by law.”
