In an look on “Jimmy Kimmel Reside,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. blasted Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, calling him unqualified and saying he simply needs to please President Donald Trump.
The feedback got here after Hegseth requested the Navy secretary to evaluate Kelly’s feedback in a video to troops for “doubtlessly illegal conduct,” based on a memo posted on social media by the Pentagon.
The Arizona senator was one among six Democrats featured in a video final week addressed to army members.
“The threats to our Structure aren’t simply coming from aboard, however from proper right here proper at house. Our legal guidelines are clear. You may refuse unlawful orders,” the group mentioned. “Nobody has to hold out orders that violate the legislation or our Structure.”
The Division of Protection on Monday mentioned it’s launching a “thorough evaluate” into Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, citing “severe allegations of misconduct.”
In the meantime, Kelly informed Kimmel that the president and his administration’s response sows concern, calling it an instance of “how democracies die.”
“It’s proper out of the playbook, you realize, the playbook of authoritarianism. That is what they do. They attempt to suppress speech,” Kelly mentioned. “Each one among us has First Modification speech rights, and I believe the president is infringing on these and he’s sending, he’s sending a reasonably sturdy message. You don’t want to cross him, and your loyalty ought to be to him. It shouldn’t. It ought to at all times be to the Structure.”
Kelly mentioned that Hegseth is “completely unqualified” for the job and that “he simply needs to please the president.”
“He can go after me underneath the Uniform Code of Navy Justice, which is legislation within the army, which is form of wild, as a result of we recited one thing within the Uniform Code of Navy Justice, and he’ll prosecute me underneath the Uniform Code of Navy Justice,” Kelly mentioned. “It’s so ridiculous, it is virtually like you possibly can’t make this s— up.”
Kelly additionally informed Kimmel how he discovered that Trump first reacted to the video with the put up, detailing that he was with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., when a staffer interrupted their briefing and slid her a bit of paper.
“So anyone is available in in the course of our temporary, slips her piece of paper and I check out the piece of paper, and it says ‘the president is looking to your execution’– to her, to Elissa, so she, she seems at me, she will get up, she walks out,” Kelly mentioned. “About 5 minutes later, she comes again in, seems at me and says, ‘Effectively, he is calling to your execution too.’ So I wasn’t off the hook.”
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) holds a city corridor to debate the affect of proposed Republican cuts to Medicaid and meals help advantages at Chiricahua Neighborhood Well being Middle in Sierra Vista, Arizona, U.S., Might 29, 2025.
Rebecca Noble/Reuters
Hegseth bashed the Arizona senator earlier this week, accusing him of incorrectly carrying his army medals and calling the video addressed to troops that Kelly and different Democratic lawmakers had been in a “politically-motivated affect operation.”
“So ‘Captain’ Kelly, not solely did your sedition video deliberately undercut good order & self-discipline…however you possibly can’t even show your uniform correctly,” Hegseth mentioned in a put up shared on X on Tuesday.
Hegseth’s put up was in response to Kelly’s assertion on Monday concerning the Pentagon’s alleged evaluate, which included a photograph of his army medals.
“Your medals are out of order & rows reversed. When/in case you are recalled to energetic obligation, it’s going to begin with a uniform inspection,” Hegseth added.
“The army already has clear procedures for dealing with illegal orders. It doesn’t want political actors injecting doubt into an already clear chain of command,” Hegseth mentioned on Tuesday.
All army officers who’ve retired after 20 years of service are in a position to be recalled to energetic obligation, and if they’re decided to have engaged in misconduct, they’re topic to army prosecution — doubtlessly a court-martial.
Kelly served for 25 years within the Navy and at NASA, retiring in 2011.
The code referenced by the Protection Division may topic Kelly to an “administrative measure,” which may embrace a discount in rank — and a discount in his pension entitlement.
“That isn’t how our democracy works, and we can not go down that slippery slope,” mentioned Kelly.
