Sen. Mark Kelly has ripped into Pete Hegseth after a judge blocked the Pentagon chief’s attempts to censure and demote him.
Hegseth and President Trump said the retired combat veteran and decorated war hero was guilty of “sedition” when he and five other lawmakers urged service members not to follow unlawful orders.
But District Judge Richard Leon, who was appointed by President George W Bush in 2001, blocked Hegseth’s efforts—setting off a war of words on X.
“This will be immediately appealed. Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’” Hegseth wrote on Thursday, sharing a New York Post piece about his embarrassing loss.
Kelly, who retired from the military in 2011 after serving as both a combat pilot and astronaut, calmly eviscerated Hegseth, using the judge’s opinion that quashed the efforts of the head of the so-called ‘War Department.’
Kelly shared a grab of the conclusion from District Judge Richard Leon, which said, in part: “Rather than trying to shrink the First Amendment liberties of retired servicemembers, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years.”
Kelly followed up with a video message calling out Hegseth, the former Fox News host whom Donald Trump hand-picked to defend the U.S. despite a contentious history including sexual misconduct allegations (which he denies), scrutiny over nonprofit finances, and past allegations of boozing on the job.
“Today’s ruling was a victory for free speech, but don’t expect Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth to give up. We have to keep standing up to this Administration when they undermine Americans’ rights,” Kelly wrote alongside the video, in which he vowed to keep fighting for freedom of speech without bowing to “intimidation.”
“Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth tried to silence me, and in doing so threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of retired veterans,” he said in the clip.
He said the fight “isn’t over,” because “Donald Trump has never been the type of person to admit when he’s wrong.”
In his decision, which was peppered with an unusual amount of exclamation points, Judge Leon said that Hegseth’s defense was spurious as it relied on a “doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections.”
“Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so!” he wrote.
Leon also blasted the Trump administration’s argument that military decisions are exempt from judicial review.
“This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees,” he wrote.
The group of lawmakers who participated in the video last November included Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan, along with Sens. Kelly and Elissa Slotkin.
“You can refuse illegal orders,” they said in the video, referring to pressure from the Trump administration put on military and intelligence personnel.
