{"id":2530061,"date":"2026-01-05T14:39:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-moves-to-demote-mark-kelly-for-seditious-video\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:42:59","slug":"pentagon-moves-to-demote-mark-kelly-for-seditious-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-moves-to-demote-mark-kelly-for-seditious-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Moves To Demote Mark Kelly For &#8216;Seditious&#8217; Video"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpentagon-moves-to-demote-mark-kelly-for-seditious-video%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2530061&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Pentagon has <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >begun retirement-grade determination proceedings<\/a> to demote and reduce the retired pay of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired Navy captain, after he appeared in a video that Department of War officials called seditious for urging service members to refuse lawful orders. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the action, citing alleged violations of Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and initiating the process under 10 U.S.C. \u00a71370(f).Kelly&#8217;s retired-pay status makes him uniquely subject to military jurisdiction, and the department previously considered recalling him to active service for possible court-martial.<\/p>\n<p>The contested video, recorded June-December 2025, featured statements from six members of Congress &#8211; including former military officers Reps. Chris Deluzio, Jason Crow, Maggie Hassan Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin &#8211; and was characterized by the department as encouraging insubordination and undermining military discipline. Kelly has defended his participation by invoking his military service and the First Amendment,calling the department&#8217;s actions intimidation and pledging to fight them. The administrative process gives him one month to respond and will be finalized within 45 days.<\/p>\n<p>Officials pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/department-of-veterans-affairs-sued-over-new-federally-funded-abortion-policy\/\" title=\"... of Veterans Affairs Sued Over New Federally Funded Abortion Policy\">longstanding federal law<\/a> (18 U.S.C. \u00a72387) criminalizing efforts to encourage insubordination or refusal of duty,and Hegseth warned that further violations could prompt additional action. The report was published by The Federalist, written by Breccan F.Thies.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Pentagon has initiated proceedings to demote and dock the pay of Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy captain, after his participation in a &ldquo;seditious&rdquo; video telling America&rsquo;s warfighters &ldquo;to refuse lawful orders&rdquo; from the president of the United States. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/2008189258528665898?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> the proceedings in a social media statement on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/24\/pentagon-could-recall-democrat-senator-for-court-martial-over-seditious-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">joined<\/a> by five other members of Congress, including four other former members of the military, but Kelly&rsquo;s official &ldquo;retired&rdquo; status renders him subject to the <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section688&amp;num=0&amp;edition=prelim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Uniform Code of Military Justice<\/a>, unlike the others. In November, the Pentagon considered recalling him back into service to potentially face a court-martial for the video.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In response to Senator Mark Kelly&rsquo;s seditious statements &mdash; and his pattern of reckless misconduct &mdash; the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret),&rdquo; Hegseth <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/2008189258528665898?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;The department has initiated retirement grade determination proceedings under 10 U.S.C. &sect; 1370(f), with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth also referred to Kelly as a &ldquo;Captain (for now),&rdquo; noting a Letter of Censure he issued outlining Kelly&rsquo;s &ldquo;reckless misconduct,&rdquo; which will remain in Kelly&rsquo;s official permanent military file.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These actions are based on Captain Kelly&rsquo;s public statements from June through December 2025 in which he characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders,&rdquo; Hegseth added. &ldquo;This conduct was seditious in nature and violated Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Captain Kelly remains subject as a retired officer receiving pay.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The process allows Kelly one month to respond, and the proceedings will be finalized in 45 days, according to the social media post.<\/p>\n<p>The video in question included statements from Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Penn. (former Navy), Jason Crow, D-Colo. (former paratrooper and Army Ranger), Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H. (former Navy intelligence), Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn. (former Air Force) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. (former CIA officer). The statements did not specify any orders from Trump or military leadership deemed &ldquo;unlawful,&rdquo; as the Democrats suggested, but seemed to imply that members of the military could simply ignore any order they personally disagreed with. In his post Hegseth said the video &ldquo;was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Sidestepping the charge of sedition, Kelly has consistently pumped his military service as an excuse for being allowed to undermine the military.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution &mdash; including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out. I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that,&rdquo; Kelly said in a Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenMarkKelly\/status\/2008215189275963870?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>. &ldquo;If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country&rsquo;s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn&rsquo;t get it. I will fight this with everything I&rsquo;ve got &mdash; not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don&rsquo;t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While Kelly&rsquo;s statement portrays the clash as a First Amendment issue centering on his disagreeing with the administration about military policy, the Department of War has indicated that the real reason for his censure and investigation is that he was actively trying to sow discord among the military&rsquo;s rank-and-file using his affiliation and rank with the Navy to lend the &ldquo;appearance of authority,&rdquo; as Hegseth said in November.<\/p>\n<p>But laws against the behavior described by the War Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/2387\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">predate<\/a> the Trump administration by decades:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the&nbsp;military or naval forces of the United States: (1) advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the&nbsp;military or naval forces of the United States; or (2) distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the&nbsp;military or naval forces of the United States &mdash; Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&ldquo;Captain Kelly&rsquo;s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,&rdquo; Hegseth said.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/\" title=\"PA Court Rules Improperly Dated Mail Ballots Must Be Counted\">previously covered education<\/a> and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pentagon seeks to demote and dock Sen. Kelly&#8217;s pay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2530062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-05-130540.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[70176,70178,3761,70179,70177],"class_list":["post-2530061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-mark-kelly-2","tag-military-discipline","tag-pentagon","tag-political-controversy-2","tag-seditious-video"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-05-130540.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530061"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530065,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530061\/revisions\/2530065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2530062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}