Sen. Mark Kelly says Trump and Hegseth are 'not serious people' amid military video investigation

Sen. Mark Kelly said that Trump and Hegseth are “not serious people” in response to their comments about a video Kelly and several fellow Democrats made urging military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders.”

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Sunday that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are “not serious people” in response to their comments about a video Kelly and several fellow Democrats made earlier this month urging military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders.”

“This president thinks he can bully and intimidate people, and he is not going to, he’s not going to stop me from speaking out and holding him accountable for the things that he does that are wrong and unlawful,” Kelly told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Officials at the Defense Department earlier this month said they were launching an investigation into Kelly after President Donald Trump accused him and several other lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” a charge that the president said could be “punishable by death.”

The president later walked back his comments, telling conservative radio host Brian Kilmeade that he was not threatening the lawmakers with death.

The accusations from Trump came after several Democratic lawmakers — all of whom are military veterans or former intelligence officials — released a video urging current military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders,” adding, “no one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”