The Pentagon will cut the military retirement pay of Sen. Mark Kelly for what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the Arizona Democrat’s “seditious” statements on a video with other members of Congress telling service members they have the right to refuse to execute illegal orders.
Hegseth also issued a formal letter of censure against Kelly, which the Defense secretary said details “reckless misconduct” by the retired Navy captain and astronaut.
“Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth said in a statement on X.
“As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice,” Hegseth said.
Kelly has 30 days to file a response to the decision to cut his retirement pay, according to Hegseth’s tweet.
“Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,” Hegseth said.
Kelly previously scoffed at the Pentagon’s investigation of his involvement with the video.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
Crazy how this story is going so far:
Going after his pay is low. Seems like the senator has a month to appeal. Though I don’t know.
Just a warning to others in the future.
can they legally do that?
It’s going to be tough to explain how the veterans never turned on Trump. Initially he’s a draft dodging rich boy after all the heat Clinton took. He makes fun of McCain which should end anyone else’s political career tbh. He feuds with the Gold Star family and basically never gets along with any high level generals his first term. He is quoted as calling them “suckers”.
Then after tossing aside Mattis his Secretary of Defense adds a reporter to a strike plan chat and attacks survivors from an airstrike. At no point does anyone point out Kelly is an actual veteran and Trump’s entire circle is wannabe tough guys who clearly have no clue what they’re doing.
Beyond all of the obvious legal and constitutional issues this brings, more importantly for politics, it makes Hegseth look like an absolute charmin-soft bitch. These dudes whined non-stop about free speech being absolute, but as soon as someone criticizes them, they take *actual government action* to punish them for it.
If this is the type of warrior ethos Hegseth wants to instill, then the only war these warriors will win is with a customer service representative when their order is slightly wrong.