Democratic<\/a> lawmakers targeted in President Donald Trump\u2019s death penalty threat<\/a> said that they were disappointed over the reaction from their Republican <\/a>colleagues. <\/p>\n “Those who are in leadership positions and have taken the oath to tell the truth and to defend our Constitution, who are failing to speak up are not fulfilling their oaths,\u201d Jason Crow (D-Colo.) told The Independent\u2019s Eric Garcia Thursday.<\/p>\n Earlier Thursday, Trump lashed out at the group of military or intelligence community veterans that, in a recent video, called for service members to uphold their oaths to the Constitution and \u201crefuse illegal orders.\u201d <\/p>\n The president accused them of having engaged in \u201cseditious behavior at the highest level.\u201d He called them \u201ctraitors to our country\u201d who should be \u201carrested and put on trial.\u201d<\/p>\n In a follow-up post, the president appeared to suggest they should receive the death penalty, writing, \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d<\/p>\n House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the video<\/a> on Thursday, describing it to Garcia as \u201cwildly inappropriate.\u201d <\/p>\n During a press briefing later in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed this sentiment<\/a>, claiming the Democrats\u2019 message \u201ccould inspire chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a>Gabby Giffords responds to Trump’s execution threats against her husband: ‘Dangerous and wrong’<\/p>\n Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt, has called President Donald Trump\u2019s execution threats against her husband, Senator Mark Kelly, and other Democratic lawmakers \u201cdangerous and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Giffords said her husband \u201cserved our country with strength, courage, and integrity, dedicating his career to protecting us and upholding our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToday, the President of the United States called him a traitor and demanded he be executed. It is dangerous and wrong. Americans of all political beliefs need to stand up and say so,\u201d the former congresswoman wrote on X Thursday.<\/p>\n Earlier Thursday, Trump accused the Democrats of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d His comments were in response to a video that the lawmakers, who are military or intelligence community veterans, posted, calling for the military to refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\n Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 during an event in Tucson, Arizona, by a gunman who killed six people and injured 12 others. She had to learn how to speak and walk again due to her injuries. <\/p>\n Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 02:10<\/p>\n <\/a>Nancy Pelosi on Trump execution threats: ‘I’m worried about the sanity or insanity’ of the president<\/p>\n Representative Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who is known for confronting Donald Trump, told The Independent\u2019s Eric Garcia that she is concerned about the president\u2019s \u201csanity\u201d after he accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of sedition that he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<\/p>\n “I’m worried about the sanity or insanity of the President of the United States to say such a thing,\u201d Pelosi said on Thursday. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s comments earlier Thursday were in response to Democrats calling for the military to refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\n Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 01:50<\/p>\n <\/a>Senate GOP leader doesn’t agree with Trump’s execution threats<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that he doesn\u2019t agree with President Donald Trump threatening execution after Democratic lawmakers released a video urging the military to defy illegal orders. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat those folks did was ill-advised, unnecessary and clearly provocative,\u201d Thune said in reference to the Democrats, per The Hill<\/a>. <\/p>\n He added: \u201cBut I certainly don\u2019t agree with the president\u2019s conclusion on how we ought to handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump fumed at the Democrats on social media, accusing them of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 01:30<\/p>\n <\/a>White House discussed axing CNN hosts that Trump hates with Larry Ellison as part of takeover talks, report says<\/p>\n Larry Ellison<\/a>, the largest shareholder of Paramount<\/a>, reportedly had discussions with the Trump administration about firing CNN hosts the president doesn’t like, according to sources close to the matter.<\/p>\n The CNN hosts include Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, the sources told The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paramount<\/a> has positioned itself as a potential buyer of Warner Bros Discovery. The sources said part of Paramount’s interest lies in the idea that Ellison’s closeness to Trump<\/a> would help the deal pass a regulatory review.<\/p>\n Graig Graziosi21 November 2025 01:10<\/p>\n <\/a>Hakeem Jeffries rails against Mike Johnson for not distancing himself from Trump’s execution threats<\/p>\n Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers who called for the military to disobey illegal orders of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<\/p>\n House Speaker Mike Johnson described the lawmakers\u2019 comments to The Independent\u2019s Eric Garcia as \u201cwildly inappropriate.\u201d <\/p>\n Reacting to Trump\u2019s response, Johnson said: \u201cWhat I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,\u201d adding, \u201cBut obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat’s extraordinary to me is that Mike Johnson doesn\u2019t have the decency to distance himself from Donald Trump’s death threats leveled at patriotic members of Congress,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.<\/p>\n After Jeffries\u2019 comments, ABC News\u2019 Rachel Scott reported Johnson as saying, \u201cThe words that the President chose are not the ones that I would use. Okay, obviously, I don’t think that this is – these are crimes punishable by death or any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 00:30<\/p>\n <\/a>Judge orders Trump to end \u2018illegal\u2019 National Guard deployment in DC but troops aren\u2019t going home yet<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s military takeover in Washington, D.C., illegally intrudes on local officials\u2019 authority to direct law enforcement<\/a> in the district, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded.<\/p>\n However, she put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal.<\/p>\n District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor\u2019s consent while the lawsuit plays out.<\/p>\n Cobb found that while the president does have authority to protect federal functioning and property, he can’t unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he sees fit or call in troops from other states.<\/p>\n Associated Press21 November 2025 00:10<\/p>\n <\/a>Democrats whom Trump threatened say they’re not afraid but criticized Republican silence: ‘I’m frustrated and angry’<\/p>\n Democrats whom President Donald Trump said had committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” that was “punishable by DEATH” said they were furious that their Republican colleagues did not defend them.<\/p>\n That sent Trump into a rage, and he said they could be executed.<\/p>\n “I never expected that just simply and clearly stating what Federal law says, would ask the president to threaten violence against me, that that’s a situation we’re in,” Goodlander told The Independent.<\/p>\n Many were informed by others, such as their staff or other colleagues.<\/p>\n “I was in a meeting with other colleagues who are more online than I am,” Goodlander said.<\/p>\n Houlahan said she was not afraid after the remarks from the president.<\/p>\n “It’s astounding that we live in a time when the President of the United States can openly threaten the lives of six members of Congress,” Houlahan told The Independent.<\/p>\n But many of them criticized the fact that almost no Republicans defended them. In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Independent that “that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.” Other Republican senators mostly said that they had not seen the posts from the president despite the fact he made multiple ones.<\/p>\n All of them, save for Kelly, showed up to vote in the House and Senate on Thursday.<\/p>\n Crow, a Democrat and former Army Ranger who tried to protect his colleagues after the Jan. 6 riot, criticized Johnson.<\/p>\n “Every time somebody lies or mischaracterizes what people say or don’t say, it further aggravates what is already a very tough situation. Right now, our country needs leadership,” Crow told The Independent. “Those who are in leadership positions and have taken the oath to tell the truth and to defend our Constitution, who are failing to speak up, are not fulfilling their oaths.”<\/p>\n Houlahan compared the situation to the fact that many Democrats joined on a resolution denouncing political violence after the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.<\/p>\n “And yet, here we are now, just weeks later, really, and my Republican colleagues can’t find the heart and the gut and the morality to identify that it’s not okay for the leader of the free world to threaten to murder members of Congress,” she said.<\/p>\n “I think fear is contagious and courageous too, and I don’t bow to threats,” Goodlander said. “And I’m here to do a job.”<\/p>\n Eric Garcia20 November 2025 23:56<\/p>\n <\/a>Trump urged to \u2018bang some heads\u2019 and focus on these three specific messages with Republican polling in free fall<\/p>\n “Let’s run the table [with] a simple plan, aggressively executed,” Bannon, the host of War Room and Trump\u2019s chief strategist during his first term, told Axios<\/a>. “The President<\/a> may have to bang some heads. [His] entire plan has an objective of GROWTH, JOBS, HIGHER WAGES \u2014 now execute.”<\/p>\n Just weeks after a blue wave<\/a> swept elections across the country, a series of recent polls<\/a> this week suggest Trump\u2019s approval rating<\/a> is slipping as the administration copes with the fallout from the Epstein files <\/a>and a turbulent economy.<\/p>\n After months of resistance to making the government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein public, Trump on Wednesday signed the bill to release the highly anticipated records<\/a>. The president, who campaigned on affordability, has also faced concerns over the economy; while the U.S. added 119,000 jobs<\/a> in September, unemployment reached 4.4 percent and grocery prices remain high<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kelly Rissman20 November 2025 23:30<\/p>\n <\/a>Mark Kelly says ‘I never thought I’d see a President call for my execution’<\/p>\n Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and former Navy captain, has reacted to President Donald Trump\u2019s threats of execution after he and other Democratic lawmakers released a video telling the military to refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit \u2014 all for my country. I never thought I’d see a President call for my execution,\u201d Kelly wrote on Thursday. \u201cTrump doesn\u2019t understand the Constitution, and we’re all less safe for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump had accused the Democrats of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel Dobkin20 November 2025 23:10<\/p>\n <\/a>ANALYSIS: MTG had nastiest breakup with Trump since Musk and now Elon\u2019s back. Could Georgia rebel win back his MAGA heart?<\/p>\n But Donald Trump is also famously a man who understands the value of making peace with conservatives, rather than war,<\/a> when it serves his purposes.<\/p>\n Take Greene\u2019s fellow Republican on the discharge petition, Rep. Nancy Mace,<\/a> as an example. Trump famously endorsed against her as recently as 2022, backing a Republican state representative in a failed primary bid to unseat the one-term congresswoman. But Mace, despite her thin resume on the Hill, won re-election easily \u2014 and Trump, ever eager to back the winning horse, let her back into the fold.<\/p>\n![\"Senate](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2247512093.jpg\")
Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday (Chip Somodevilla\/\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n