Hegseth issues letter of censure to Sen. Kelly after warning about following illegal orders
PBS••general
Key Points:
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a letter of censure to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly for participating in a video urging troops to resist unlawful orders, a move that could lead to Kelly's demotion from his retired Navy captain rank.
- Kelly condemned the censure as an "outrageous" and "un-American" attack, asserting it is an attempt to silence dissent and vowing to fight it to protect free speech rights.
- The controversy stems from a November video featuring Kelly and other Democratic veterans calling on service members to uphold the Constitution and defy illegal orders, which drew accusations of sedition from former President Donald Trump.
- Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized Hegseth's action as political retaliation
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-22400154171-19eb2573d96647f8894478942b5721be.jpg)
