Tasos Katopodis/Getty; ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (left); Sen. Mark Kelly (right)
NEED TO KNOW
On Nov. 18, Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and five other Democratic members of Congress told U.S. troops that they could lawfully disobey illegal orders
On Monday, Jan. 5, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he intends to downgrade Kelly’s military retirement rank and pension
“My rank and retirement are things that I earned,” Kelly responded, adding, “I will fight this with everything I’ve got”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is calling for the removal of Sen. Mark Kelly’s military retirement pension and his retirement rank.
In an X post on Monday, Jan. 5, Hegseth responded to a November video in which the Arizona Democrat, 61, and five other Democrats spoke directly to military personnel and members of the intelligence community, urging them to “refuse” illegal orders amid U.S. military airstrikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Hegseth described the video as a “reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline.”
Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in December 2025
“As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice,” Hegseth continued. “Therefore, in response to Senator Mark Kelly’s seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret).”
Hegseth’s post said that the Department of Defense had “initiated retirement grade determination proceedings” against Kelly, “with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay.”
“To ensure this action, the Secretary of War has also issued a formal Letter of Censure, which outlines the totality of Captain (for now) Kelly’s reckless misconduct,” Hegseth wrote. “This Censure is a necessary process step, and will be placed in Captain Kelly’s official and permanent military personnel file.”
In the Nov. 18 video, Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Christopher Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow spoke directly to military personnel and members of the intelligence community after the U.S. military’s airstrikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean in September 2025, according to CNBC. The airstrikes were not authorized by Congress, and their legality has been debated.
“Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly, who served in the armed forces for 25 years and retired in 2011, said in the video.
In a statement shared to his website, Kelly responded to Hegseth’s Jan. 5 “attack,” describing it as “outrageous” and “un-American.”
“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it,” Kelly, who also served as an astronaut, said. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”
In his post, Hegseth said that Kelly has been “provided notice of the basis for this action,” and will have 30 days to respond. Meanwhile, Hegseth says that he has 45 days to complete the retirement grade determination.
He stated that Kelly’s status as a sitting senator “does not exempt him from accountability,” and that “further violations could result in further action.”
Other Democrats who appeared in the video, including Goodlander and Houlahan, are not subject to the same consequences as Kelly because they separated from their respective branches of service instead of retiring from them. This means they’re not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, per CNBC.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Sen. Mark Kelly in the Capitol on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In December, Kelly’s attorney, Paul J. Fishman, wrote that there was “no legitimate basis for any type of proceedings against Senator Kelly,” and that “any such effort would be unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power,” according to The New York Times.
Fishman also wrote in his letter, first obtained by Punchbowl News, that Hegseth made similar remarks about the legality of refusing “unlawful orders” in a 2016 speech to the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley.
“If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that,” Hegseth said in 2016, CNN reported on Dec. 2. “That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief.”
PEOPLE reached out to Kelly for comment.
Read the original article on People