Newsman: President Donald Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers who made a video telling service members to resist illegal orders of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
President Trump posted on social media that a group of Democratic lawmakers were guilty of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” Trump wrote. “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.”
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he added in a later post.
Trump also reposted a cascade of other angry posts calling the lawmakers “traitors” and “domestic terrorist Democrats” and another reading, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
His comments came after a group of six Democratic lawmakers put out a video directed at service members urging them to refuse illegal orders.
The lawmakers did not specify what orders are illegal. Democrats have pointed toward Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to American cities and his extrajudicial strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs as illegal.
“You must refuse illegal orders,” Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania said in the video.
“No one has to carry out orders that violate the law,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said.
“…Or our constitution,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania added. Sen. Mark Kelly and Reps. Maggie Goodlander and Jason Crow also appeared in the video statement.
Asked at a Nov 20 news conference if Trump wants to execute members of Congress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “No.”
But the lawmakers who made the video could inspire chaos, incite violence and disrupt the chain of command, she said.
“These members knew what they were doing,” Leavitt said, citing their national security credentials. “That is a very dangerous message, and it perhaps is punishable by law.”
Democrats respond to Trump’s posts
In a Nov. 20 speech on the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Trump’s posts should be taken as an “outright threat.”
“Let’s be crystal clear – the president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials. This is an outright threat, and it’s deadly serious,” he said.
Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, called Trump’s post “chilling behavior.”
“The administration should never try to force our service members to carry out an illegal order,” he wrote on X. “Calling for the execution of senators and Congress members for reminding our troops of that is chilling behavior.”
“Every one of my Republican colleagues needs to swiftly condemn this.”
