Trump calls for arrest of ‘seditious’ Democrats who told troops their duty is to uphold the Constitution

The US has no statute criminalizing speech as ‘sedition’ and members of Congress enjoy broad immunity for official acts

President Donald Trump lashed out at a group of House Democrats who called for troops to uphold their oaths to the Constitution by demanding that the legislators be arrested and tried for posting a social media video where they urged military members to refuse unspecified unlawful orders.

Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump accused senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, plus Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania’s Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan had engaged in “seditious behavior at the highest level” and called the senators and representatives — all of whom are military veterans — “traitors to our country” who should be “arrested and put on trial.”

“Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won’t have a Country anymore!!!” he added.

In a second post written after he’d deleted the previous one, Trump called the Democrats’ statements “really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”

Trump then added: “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

The president later posted a third message in which he repeated his all-caps accusation of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” from the lawmakers before claiming that such “behavior” is “punishable by DEATH.”

Trump lashed out at a group of Democratic legislators and military veterans who urged troops to uphold their oaths to the U.S. Constitution. (Getty)

In the video at issue, the Democratic legislators warned military and intelligence personnel of what they described as “threats to our Constitution” that were coming “from right here at home” — a tacit reference to the Trump administration’s aggressive interpretation of presidential power and what critics describe as the administration's frequent disregard for existing laws or norms that conflict with the president’s will.

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the posts by Trump on Thursday and criticized Democrats, saying that the Department of Justice determines crimes.

“What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,” he told The Independent. “But obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that. What I'm saying, what I will say unequivocally, that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”

The Democrats in the video also tell service members and intelligence officials that “our laws are clear” repeatedly remind them: “You can refuse illegal orders.”

The legislators’ exhortation to service members is a reference to Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the set of laws governing the conduct of America’s armed forces. It states that service members are required to obey “any lawful general order or regulation” — a category that would exclude orders to commit crimes, target civilians or noncombatants, or perform civilian law enforcement activities that have long been banned under U.S. law.

It’s unclear what, if any, legal grounds would exist to prosecute the representatives and senators for urging service members not to follow illegal orders, as legislators enjoy broad immunity for statements and other acts taken in their official capacities.

Not only does the First Amendment provide broad protection for political speech, the United States has not had laws criminalizing speech against the government as “sedition” on the books since Congress repealed the First World War-era Sedition Act in 1920.

While there is a section of the U.S. criminal code that prohibits “seditious conspiracy” — a rarely used charge last employed against pro-Trump rioters who participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — that provision only applies to conspiracies to “levy war against the government,” "oppose the government of the United States by force,” or "prevent, hinder, or delay" the execution of any law by force.”

Despite Trump’s claim that “seditious behavior” is a capital offense, in fact that U.S. criminal code only provides for a punishment of imprisonment for “not more than 20 years.”

Yet the lack of legal grounds may not stop the Trump administration from following through on the president’s demand to arrest and prosecute the Democratic legislators.

Since his return to office, the Justice Department has brought charges against several of Trump’s longtime political adversaries — including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey — over the advice of career prosecutors who advised against bringing cases against either, citing a lack of evidence.

The video that drew Trump'sa outrage referenced the administration’s aggressive interpretation of presidential power and what critics describe as the administration's frequent disregard for existing laws or norms that conflict with the president’s will. (AFP via Getty Images)

Crow, a former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, defended the video during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, citing Trump’s push to have National Guard soldiers shoot protesters during his first term, his recent attempts to use federalized guard soldiers for domestic law enforcement, and threats to send troops to polling stations during next year’s midterm elections.

He noted that Trump had made what he called “a series of very disturbing comments and suggestions that would violate U.S. law and put our military in a terrible position.”

“I don’t want to wait until that happens to remind our troops of this obligation because then it will be too late,” he said.

“We are standing by our troops, our service members who are often put in very difficult positions and Donald Trump has put them in very difficult positions and has alluded to putting them in even more difficult positions in the months and years ahead, so we are reminding folks about what the uniform code of military justice says, what the Constitution says, what the law of war says,” he added.

The president’s latest call to prosecute members of the opposition party for protected political speech comes just a day after one of his top aides, Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, erupted in anger at the Democrats’ message during a Fox News interview where he accused the military veterans of having issued a ““general call for rebellion… from the CIA and the armed services.”

“It is insurrection, plainly, directly, without question,” Miller said.

A similar message on X posted by Miller also drew a pointed response from Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who previously served as a Naval aviator who flew 39 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm.

While quoting Miller’s post, Kelly wrote: “I got shot at serving our country in combat, and I was there when your boss sent a violent mob to attack the Capitol. I know the difference between defending our Constitution and an insurrection, even if you don’t.”

The video also drew a threatening response from Todd Blanche, the sitting Deputy Attorney General who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney.

Speaking to Fox host Sean Hannity, Blanche denounced the members’ video as “alarming” and a “disgusting and inappropriate display of supposed leadership from the Democrat [sic] Party.”

“I felt like I was watching a propaganda video by one of our enemies trying to recruit the military to become spies,” Blanche said. He also called for the legislators to be “held to account” and vowed that the Justice Department would “a close look” at whether they had broken any laws.

The Democrats later put out a statement defending their remarks.

“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,” they said in a joint statement. “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.