US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he did not threaten Democratic lawmakers who posted a video on social media urging military personnel not to obey illegal orders.
“I’m not threatening them, but I would say they’re in serious trouble,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News Radio. “I’m not threatening death.”
He later claimed that the Democratic lawmakers had broken the law and said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was looking into it.
Trump accuses Democratic lawmakers of sedition
Trump’s comments came after his posts on Truth Social accused six Democratic lawmakers, all veterans of the armed services and the intelligence community — Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan, of sedition and suggested that it was a crime punishable by the death penalty.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump said in a post.
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Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words.
In the 90-second video, posted on X, the Democratic lawmakers called on the US military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”
Democratic lawmakers ‘concerned’
However, following Trump’s rant spree on Truth Social, Democratic lawmakers said they were concerned about their safety and the lack of support from their Republican colleagues.
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Chrissy Houlahan, a former US Air Force officer and the Congresswoman from Pennsylvania, said she has yet to hear from one Republican colleague.
“Not a single member has reached out to me, either publicly or privately,” Houlahan said Friday morning at a news conference at the US Capitol. “And with this, I am profoundly disappointed in my colleagues.”
She said she was “dumbfounded by the silence” and viewed Trump’s remarks as a threat against her life and an explicit embrace of political violence.
Houlahan was speaking at a news conference promoting a bill that would prohibit the administration from spending any funds on sending US troops into direct hostilities with Venezuela.
Trump’s use of military raises questions
Some Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
The Democratic lawmakers posted the video at a time when Trump’s use of the National Guard on US soil and the military to target alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean are coming under criticism.
There are also reports that the Trump administration is planning a military intervention in Venezuela to force President Nicolás Maduro to step down.
Last week, Maduro had warned that a military intervention in Venezuela could lead the US into an Afghanistan-style “forever war.”
