Democratic Senator Mark Kelly holds a press conference in the Mansfield Room of the US Capitol on December 1, 2025. PHOTO: Bill Clark / AP / Profimedia
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that he would demote Senator Mark Kelly from the rank of reserve captain in the Navy and reduce his military pension for “subversive statements”, after he and other Democratic lawmakers urged the troops to refuse any “illegal orders” from the administration of President Donald Trump, Reuters and AFP write.
Kelly could face further action in the future depending on his actions, the Pentagon chief also warned in a post on the X social network.
“Captain Kelly's status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from liability, and further violations could result in further action,” Pete Hegseth said, according to Agerpres.
“The least qualified Secretary of Defense in the history of our country”
The Democratic senator from Arizona, a former fighter jet and space shuttle pilot, also reacted to X.
“If Pete Hegseth, the least qualified defense secretary in the history of our country, thinks he can intimidate me with a reprimand or threats of demotion or prosecution, he still doesn't understand. (…) I will fight this with everything I have, not for myself, but to send the message that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump do not decide what Americans in this country can say about their government,” said Kelly, considered one of the likely candidates for the Democratic nomination for the election presidential elections in 2028.
Kelly's November 18 video message came amid concerns among Democrats, shared privately by some US military officials, that the Trump administration is breaking the law by ordering the military to kill suspected drug traffickers in attacks on their ships in Latin American waters.
The Pentagon claims these attacks are justified because drug traffickers are considered terrorists.
President Donald Trump then accused Kelly and other Democrats of “rebellion,” pointing out in a social media post that it was punishable by the death penalty.
Under the US Code of Military Justice, mutiny and incitement to mutiny are among the most serious crimes and are punishable by death.
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