“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he wrote on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump on Thursday called for six Democratic lawmakers to face arrest and trial after they made a video encouraging U.S. service members and members of the intelligence community to refrain from following orders if they broke the law.
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” Trump charged in a post on Truth Social. “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.”
The president then reposted 16 Truth Social posts, including one that advocated for hanging the Democrats, like “GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD.”
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country,” he wrote later.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he said in a separate post.
Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), as well as Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) were featured in the Tuesday video. They are all either military veterans or worked in national security-focused roles before taking office.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now,” they said. “Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders.”
As part of a stated push to crack down on street crime and bolster deportations, Trump has federalized National Guard troops in American cities, including Washington, Chicago and Portland. Democratic officials have argued the president’s deployments constitute an illegal overreach of federal power and have sued to stop them.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a Thursday briefing defended Trump’s comments, saying the media had unfairly focused exclusively on his Truth Social posts, “but not what brought the president to responding in this way.”
But in a joint statement Thursday, House Democratic leadership condemned Trump’s “disgusting and dangerous death threats” and called for him to delete the posts, urging their Republican colleagues to say the same.
The statement — co-signed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar — said House leadership had been in contact with the House sergeant at arms and the United States Capitol Police to “ensure the safety” of the members mentioned in Trump’s posts.
“Donald Trump incited a violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th as part of a treacherous attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,” they wrote. “The President’s violent and unhinged rhetoric against American patriots is consistent with his well-documented history of attacking prisoners of war, Gold Star families and war heroes. There is no bottom when it comes to Donald Trump.”
The six Democrats later panned Trump’s reaction, writing in a joint statement that “no threat, intimidation, or call for violence” would deter them from defending the Constitution.
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,” they said. “Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.”