Trump Calls for Arrests of Democrats Who Urged Troops to Refuse Illegal Orders: ‘Seditious Behavior, Punishable by Death’

TIME

President Donald Trump has labeled six Democratic lawmakers “seditious” and called for them to be arrested, after the politicians posted a video urging members of the military and the intelligence community to refuse unlawful orders.

Transcript

00:00This morning, President Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of seditious behavior punishable by death.

00:07Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress?

00:12No. Let's be clear about what the president is responding to,

00:16because many in this room want to talk about the president's response,

00:19but not what brought the president to responding in this way.

00:24You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video

00:32message to members of the United States military, to active duty service members,

00:37to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's lawful orders.

00:46The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command.

00:49And if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed,

00:54it can lead to chaos.

00:56And that's what these members of Congress, who swore an oath to, to abide by the Constitution,

01:01are essentially encouraging.

01:03We have 1.3 active duty service members in this country.

01:07And if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress,

01:11that could inspire chaos and it could incite violence and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command.

01:17And so these members knew what they were doing.

01:19They were leading into their credentials as former members of our military,

01:22as veterans, as former members of the national security apparatus,

01:26to signal to people serving under this commander-in-chief, Donald Trump,

01:31that you can defy him and you can betray your oath of office.

01:34That is a very, very dangerous message and it perhaps is punishable by law.

01:40I'm not a lawyer, I'll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.

01:44The President and the Vice President, for that matter, have accused the other side of encouraging political violence.

01:51Isn't that exactly what the President is doing when he says that members of Congress should be killed?

01:56Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?

02:00They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to defy the chain of command,

02:08not to follow lawful orders.

02:10They are suggesting, Nancy, that the President has given illegal orders, which he has not.

02:20Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander-in-chief

02:25and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful and the courts have proven that.

02:30This administration has an unparalleled record at the Supreme Court because we are following the laws.

02:37We don't defy court orders, we do things by the books.

02:40And to suggest and encourage that active duty service members defy the chain of command

02:46is a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do.

02:49And they should be held accountable and that's what the President wants to see.

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