Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) announced on Monday that he&#8217;d filed a lawsuit jointly naming War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan, the Department of the Navy, and the War Department as defendants.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Kelly claimed that Hegseth had overstepped his constitutional boundaries by ordering a Uniform Code of Military Justice review following his participation in the &#8220;Seditious Six&#8221; video.
&#8220;Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to hold him—and this or any administration—accountable,&#8221; Kelly claimed. &#8220;His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted.&#8221;
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Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to hold him—and this or any administration—accountable. His unconstitutional…
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMarkKelly/status/2010787235549876286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Kelly spent the rest of the lengthy post reminding his audience that &#8220;military rank is earned, not given&#8221; and listing his personal accomplishments — particularly those that showcased his willingness to risk his life for those he served.
&#8220;I gave everything I had to this country and I earned my rank of Captain, United States Navy,&#8221; Kelly said, adding, &#8220;Now, Pete Hegseth wants our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and pay years or even decades after they leave the military just because he or another Secretary of Defense doesn’t like what they’ve said. That’s not the way things work in the United States of America, and I won’t stand for it.&#8221;
Kelly went on to recall his oath to defend the Constitution and claimed that his lawsuit was simply the next phase of that mission: &#8220;Our freedom of speech, the separation of powers, and due process are not just words on a page.&#8221;
&#8220;So today, I filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Defense because there are few things as important as standing up for the rights of the very Americans who fought to defend our freedoms,&#8221; he said.
Hegseth moved to officially censure Kelly in early January, launching a review of Kelly based on his role in creating a video that encouraged active duty service members to question the legality of their orders in real time.
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Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline. As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/2008189258528665898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,&#8221; Hegseth said at the time. &#8220;These actions are based on Captain Kelly&#8217;s public statements from June through December 2025 in which he characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders. This conduct was seditious in nature and violated Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Captain Kelly remains subject as a retired officer receiving pay.&#8221;

Mark Kelly

Mark Kelly Files Lawsuit Against War Secretary Over Code Of Conduct Review

Mark Kelly Files Lawsuit Against War Secretary Over UCMJ Review

Donald Trump

Justice

Military

narcoterrorists

Pete Hegseth

U.S. Navy

The U.S. military destroyed another suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, continuing a crackdown on transnational crime at sea.
U.S. Southern Command said the strike was authorized by War Secretary Pete Hegseth and targeted a boat operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization in international waters.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” Southern Command posted on X, sharing a video of the strike. 
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On Dec. 29, at the direction of <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecWar</a> Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… <a href="https://t.co/69ywxXk30N">pic.twitter.com/69ywxXk30N</a>
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/Southcom/status/2005776276100207032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The strike was part of Joint Task Force Southern Spear, a counter-narcotics operation to disrupt drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. The initiative has so far taken out thirty boats carrying at least 106 suspected narco-terrorists. 
Southern Command’s announcement came as President Donald Trump said American forces had taken out a drug facility at a Venezuelan port allegedly used to load narcotics onto smuggling vessels.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said Monday.  “We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area… it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.&#8221;
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The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/us/politics/cia-drone-strike-venezuela.html">reported</a> that the CIA conducted the strike and that the port was operated by Tren de Aragua, a violent gang that has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Trump administration. No one was killed.  
Last week, the Trump administration began deploying a large number of special operations aircraft, troops, and military equipment to the southern Caribbean as part of its pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
“He can do whatever he wants. We have a massive armada formed, the biggest we’ve ever had – by far the biggest we’ve ever had in South America. He could do whatever he wants. It’s alright. Whatever he wants to do, if he wants to do something. If he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough,” Trump said last week.

MixCollage-30-Dec-2025-08-10-AM-3439

U.S. Military Takes Out Another Terror-Linked Drug Boat In Eastern Pacific

Department of War

narco-terrorism

Pacific Ocean

Politics

Terrorism

Venezuela

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) defended a recent video — during which she encouraged members of the military to question orders in real time — by tossing those same service members under the bus.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, had joined five military veterans in making the video that circulated a few weeks earlier. In it, they called on service members to remember that they had the right and the responsibility to refuse to act on unlawful orders — all while heavily implying that such orders either would be or had already been given by President Donald Trump or War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
During a recent interview, Slotkin claimed that she&#8217;d only made the video because an overwhelming number of military members had reached out to ask about it.
WATCH:
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Elissa Slotkin claims Democrats made the ‘illegal orders’ video because a slew of military personnel were coming to them with concerns for months:
“I don&#8217;t know if this is legal. I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;d be held accountable later after this administration. I can&#8217;t get a straight… <a href="https://t.co/Fe2AMPvMRg">pic.twitter.com/Fe2AMPvMRg</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1998136904961937700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I mean, we made that video three weeks ago or whatever it was, certainly not thinking that the president would go high and right as we say at the Pentagon on it like that,&#8221; Slotkin said, suggesting that Trump&#8217;s response — to a video telling service members to potentially ignore his orders — had been the one thing that was out of line.
&#8220;There was so many people coming to us who were on active duty, recent veterans, family members of service members, who were coming to us individually and saying two things,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;One, &#8216;I&#8217;m concerned I&#8217;m going to be sent in uniform to an American city — you know, like L.A., Chicago, Memphis — and I&#8217;m going to be asked to do things I either don&#8217;t think are legal, or I&#8217;m not trained for, and what do I do?'&#8221;
&#8220;And then this fall, it really turned, and it became a lot of people who were involved in the operations around the Caribbean asking those same things,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;&#8216;I don&#8217;t know if this is legal? I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;d be held accountable later after this administration. I can&#8217;t get a straight answer about whether this is legal or not. What do you think we should do?'&#8221;
“We were hearing that for months,&#8221; she added, &#8220;So that’s why we made the video.&#8221;
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who also participated in making the video, is facing additional scrutiny for his role since he is the only one who is a retired service member and therefore still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) Gives The Democratic Response To President Donald Trump’s Address To Congress

Slotkin Throws Military Under The Bus In Defense Of Video Calling Them To Question Orders

Slotkin Tosses Military Under The Bus In Defense Of Video Calling Them To Question Orders

Democrats

Media

Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) ran defense on Sunday morning for the narcoterrorists targeted in a recent military strike, describing them to &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; host Kristen Welker as &#8220;shipwreck survivors.&#8221;
Schiff joined a wide array of elected Democrats and media talking heads who have continued to push the narrative that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration — War Secretary Pete Hegseth in particular — had taken illegal actions either in targeting narcoterrorists in the first place or in the recent &#8220;double tap&#8221; (second strike) on a boat that was disabled, but not destroyed by the first hit.
Schiff shared video of the exchange, along with his own caption: &#8220;The killing of shipwrecked survivors at sea is a textbook violation of the laws of war. If Hegseth is so proud of the killing of these survivors, the Pentagon should release the full video, just like they have with other boat strikes. The American people deserve full transparency and accountability.&#8221;
WATCH:
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The killing of shipwrecked survivors at sea is a textbook violation of the laws of war.
If Hegseth is so proud of the killing of these survivors, the Pentagon should release the full video, just like they have with other boat strikes.
The American people deserve full… <a href="https://t.co/ABerq9vNPc">pic.twitter.com/ABerq9vNPc</a>
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenAdamSchiff/status/1997769557461856471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Welker began with a simple question about whether or not the boat strikes were legal in the first place — and Schiff said he believed they were not.
&#8220;They&#8217;re unlawful, they&#8217;re unconstitutional, and killing two people who are shipwrecked at sea is also morally repugnant,&#8221; Schiff said, adding that he believed the United States should explore legal avenues to stop the flow of drugs into the country — but he did not believe the current path was legal.
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He called on War Secretary Hegseth to release video of the strike in question, arguing that the people should be able to see what had transpired. &#8220;I can&#8217;t imagine people would be proud of that,&#8221; he added.
Throughout the less-than-two-minute clip, Schiff referred to narcoterrorists as &#8220;shipwrecked survivors&#8221; at least three times, making no move to explain how they had come to be &#8220;shipwrecked&#8221; in the first place — or what they had been doing on a boat that was being used to traffic illegal narcotics.

House Judiciary Committee Examines The Situation At The Southern Border

Adam Schiff Defends Narcoterrorists, Claims They Were ‘Shipwrecked Survivors’

Adam Schiff

Testifying before Congress on Thursday, Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley flatly denied that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a &#8220;kill all&#8221; order for strikes on a vessel carrying alleged drug-smuggling Venezuelan narco-terrorists in the Caribbean in early September, pushing back against accusations of war crimes.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said that the strikes on September 2 were “entirely lawful and needful and they were exactly what we would expect our military commanders to do.” Cotton added that during a classified briefing with Bradley, he witnessed “two survivors trying to flip a boat” after the first strike and “board it with drugs.”
&#8220;Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order to give no quarter or kill them all,” Cotton added.
The Washington Post published an anonymously-sourced story on Saturday claiming that things had gone very differently, however.
According to the initial story, a direct order to “kill them all” was attributed to Secretary Hegseth — and the scenario described suggested that two survivors had been clinging to wreckage when a second strike was ordered to ensure that they weren’t left alive.
Democrats and legacy media outlets were only too happy to run with that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spin-cycle-wapo-hit-piece-targets-pete-hegseth-and-legacy-outlets-fall-in-line" target="_blank" rel="noopener">narrative</a>, and they spent much of the week declaring Hegseth — along with anyone who had been involved in carrying out his order — was likely guilty of war crimes and continued with those questions after viewing video of the second strike on Thursday.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) said the second strike on the boat was “one of the most troubling things I&#8217;ve seen in my time in public service. You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States.”
&#8220;Now there&#8217;s a whole set of contextual items that the admiral explained. Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were not in the position to continue their mission in any way,” he continued.
&#8220;Based on what I&#8217;ve seen, I am deeply concerned about the legality of the strike,&#8221; Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) told PBS News on Thursday. “I’m deeply concerned about the legality of the entire operation, and it needs a further investigation for a possible war crime.&#8221;
Following the briefings on Thursday, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell demanded that the Washington Post retract their piece.
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“The Washington Post must retract their story which led to this latest hoax against Secretary Hegseth,” he posted. “It’s an insult to the American People &amp; to everyone who wears the uniform of our country.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) called the outrage from Democrats “manufactured and disingenuous” after <a href="https://x.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1996745632287977536">mocking</a> the war crime accusations on social media.
Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.

Adm. Frank Bradley Visits Capitol Hill To Brief Lawmakers On Venezuelan Boat Strike

Admiral Denies ‘Kill All’ Order As Left Spins ‘War Crime’ Narrative

Congress