Michigan’s recently-elected U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin has already gotten more than her share of attention as a freshman solon, and now she’s getting even more. But is what happened this past week a good thing for her image and career?
Sedition, hanging, and mutiny? Slotkin, fellow Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and four Democratic U.S. Representatives have been spotlighted because of a video they made and posted that is being called improper at best, seditious or treasonous at worst, and President Donald Trump has actually called for hanging.
First off, everyone should see the short video for themselves. You can find it here on Sen. Slotkin’s X account: (2) Sen. Elissa Slotkin on X: “We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community. The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution. Don’t give up the ship. https://t.co/N8lW0EpQ7r” / X
Watch it at least two or three times.
Military veterans now in Congress all speak. Pertinent quotes:
* We want to speak directly to members of the military and intelligence community.”
- “The threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS.”
- “Know that we (House and Senate Democratic leaders) have your back.”
- “The American people need you to stand up for our laws, our Constitution, and who we are as Americans.”
Following the release of the video, the immediate over-the-top blowback from President Donald Trump was inevitable.
That led quickly to the predictable effort by Slotkin to fund-raise off Trump’s response. Here is the text of Slotkin’s widely-circulated appeal for campaign cash:
“Last night, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division appeared to open an inquiry into me (sic) in response to a video the President did not like.
“In that video, I directly quoted the Uniform Code of Military Justice alongside five other Members of Congress with service and veteran backgrounds. Officers and enlisted in our military are trained to follow lawful orders and refuse to follow illegal orders. It’s part of the training. This has been the case since World War II.
“Since then, the President has misquoted me and then called for my arrest, trial, and death by hanging. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened my friend, Senator Mark Kelly, with court-martial. And now, it appears the president has directed the FBI to target the rest of us.
“This is exactly why we made that video in the first place.
“President Trump believes in weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies and does not believe laws apply to him or his Cabinet. He uses legal harassment as an intimidation tactic to scare people out of speaking up. He’s done it to law firms, universities, private sector companies, and private individuals.
“But these kinds of tactics won’t work on me. And neither will the total wave of death threats, bomb threats, and general harassment he has unleashed.
“I have always worked to be upfront and honest in these emails. This latest news from the FBI means that I have had to start thinking through a legal defense strategy – and we do not know exactly where President Trump and his Department of Justice will take this inquiry. And for the time being, all of that planning is being paid for through campaign dollars.
“If you’ve stored your info with ActBlue, we’ll process your contribution instantly:
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“To be frank, the whole thing isn’t about one line from one video. The events of the last week do not represent the country we know and love.
“I refuse to believe that this is the new normal — where the President of the United States uses fear and intimidation against people with whom he disagrees.
“But I can’t do this alone.
“Thank you for reading — and thank you in advance for your help.
Elissa Slotkin”
The original video by Slotkin & Co. is frankly unprecedented, although her cynical follow-up fund-raising appeal isn’t — it happens all the time in today’s soulless political climate.
The original video features Senators and Members of Congress from one political party publicly appealing directly to U.S. military and intelligence officers to refuse to obey their superiors and the elected Commander in Chief, offering support (“We have your back”) for what can only be described as mutiny.
Yes, they say “illegal orders.” But the U.S. military leadership already has policies on illegal orders, and to inject partisan civilian politicians into the command structure, urging individuals to embrace disobedience is beyond irresponsible; it’s a recipe for disintegration. Unsurprisingly, numerous Republicans hopped on this issue — they claimed the six Democratic MC’s video was dangerous and reckless and that the lawmakers cited no specific offense or example to explain why they released it. WHAT illegal orders? If their goal was to get Internet clicks, they succeeded by appealing to extremes in the Democrats’ base. However, the video encourages agitation between the commander-in-chief and the troops. It’s akin to yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and then, when criticized, admitting there is no fire but people should exit in case there ever is one.
QUESTION: Have Slotkin and the others committed a crime? Under 18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES.
1) Treason: NO. Treason is defined in the Constitution and US Code as “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason…”
2) Sedition: NO. Seditious Conspiracy. “If two or more persons … conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States…”
However, as former state Representative and attorney Chuck Moss (R-Birmingham) observes, there is “Sec 2387. Activities affecting armed forces generally:
“(a) Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States:
(1) Advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or (2) distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United State …”
It seems pretty obvious that Senator Slotkin and her comrades broke the law in their direct appeal to military service members to refuse to obey what Democratic legislators deem “illegal orders.” The penalty is not hanging, but fines and/or imprisonment for not more than 10 years. There is no exemption for Congress.
It is important that this violation of law not go winked at, and that civilian politicians be forcefully dissuaded from meddling in the military chain of command. One possibility is a bi-partisan censure by the U.S. House and Senate, which all the ‘resisters’ should accept, plus maybe they should offer apologies. They should consider themselves lucky — such punishment could be a lot worse.
But don’t expect that to happen.
******************************************
In ordinary times, Bill, you would be right. But these aren’t ordinary times. The system of dealing with issues concerning illegal orders has already been corrupted. As soon as Hegseth took office, he gutted the JAG office that deals with military issues and the law. See https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/24/people-are-very-scared-trump-administration-purge-of-jag-officers-raises-legal-ethical-fears.html. The reason given by Hegseth is they might get in the way of what Trump is going to do, or something to that effect. The administration has pardoned at least one convicted war criminal, sending a signal. We have a president who is not sure if he is obligated to follow the US Constitution, according to a recent television interview. The attacks on boats from Venezuela are clearly unlawful, drug runners or not. Of course, the fentanyl excuse for it doesn’t hold water, as Venezuela is not a major source of fentanyl. And death to drug dealers? Trump just pardoned a major one. And now we are killing survivors of our first attack, a practice that used to be considered uncivilized and even barbaric. The public reminder of the obligation to refuse illegal orders was needed in Trump’s world.
So you don’t believe in the constitutionally granted powers of the President, nor his application of the laws of the United States?
He must review all decision making with you?
A reasonable attempt to follow the law would be sufficient.
President Trump did follow the law. You just need to refresh your memory of Public Law No. 107-40, ‘Authorization for Use of Military Force’ and its jurisprudence.
Now a clever lawyer like you will say, “But the PDD was only signed on 24 November and the attack took place on 02 September…”. PL 107-40 does not dictate timing of the PDD which activates the AUMF, and usually the PDD is classified and entirely hidden from the public. President Trump broke from the secrecy of the Light Bringer and Droolin’ Joe to actually inform the public.
No good deed goes unpunished.
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Thank you for this important article which directly implicates both the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the military oath to defend the U.S. Constitution.
Firstly, in Germany before the rise of Nazism, German soldiers were required to take an oath of loyalty to Germany. After Nazis assumed dictatorial power, the oath was changed to loyalty to Hitler directly. The difference was that the Nazis demanded soldiers obey Hitler instead of German laws.
Likewise, U.S. servicemen are required to take an oath to defend the federal constitution. The president is merely a commander of the military and when those presidential orders clearly are in contravention of the U.S. constitution, the serviceman is under a direct legal duty to disobey those unconstitutional orders or face court-martial. Think of the My Lai massacre and Lt. Calley.
During the Jewish Holocaust, members of the Nazi German SS were court-martialed and charged in SS tribunals for refusing to engage in genocide – their defense was that the orders to murder were illegal and could be disobeyed – and this defense was accepted by the judges. This judicial acceptance formed the basis of the Nuremberg prosecutions that refusal to obey illegal orders was honored and a way to avoid committing murder without facing penalty.
I therefore agree with Senator Slotkin and she should be applauded for her statements to our military. But before I click on the link that Mr. Ballenger has so graciously supplied to begin donating to her campaign…………..
The vigor in which the AIPAC-supported Slotkin urges U.S. servicemen to disobedience has not been present with her actions and statements regarding Israel’s conduct in Gaza. She has been criticized by CAIR and other organizations for not voting to block arms shipments to Israel, has stated the Gaza War is over despite ongoing offensive operations – and for denying ethnic cleansing has occurred in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces.
Slotkin should be denouncing the Likud regime in Israel and calling on israeli citizens not to serve in the IDF – as hundreds did in refusing to honor reserve call-ups during the Gaza War. She should be acknowledging the Israeli government has committed genocide of the Palestinian people.
Before her election to the U.S. Senate by a razor-thin margin, Slotkin had visited mosques and engaged in lukewarm criticism of Israel – since her ascension to the Senate she has been an unmitigated pro-Israel hawk.
Makes me glad I voted for Mike Rogers……………………….
“During the Jewish Holocaust, members of the Nazi German SS were court-martialed and charged in SS tribunals for refusing to engage in genocide – their defense was that the orders to murder were illegal and could be disobeyed – and this defense was accepted by the judges. This judicial acceptance formed the basis of the Nuremberg prosecutions that refusal to obey illegal orders was honored and a way to avoid committing murder without facing penalty.”
This is not true. There were cases where SS men and officers who refused to kill untermenschen dodged legal process, but if they were brought up on charges in any of the four levels of the Oberstes SS- und Polizeigericht:, they were most assuredly convicted and then faced severe penalties. 90% of all higher rank OSSu.P defendants received the death penalty immediately.
There was a special wing of Flossenbürg concentration camp for OSSu.P convicted SS men and other ‘specials’ who were convicted of evading orders or otherwise causing problems (e.g. July 20, 1944 Plotters, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, etc.) This wing was totally liquidated in April 1945.
Those SS resisters who dodged OSSu.P legal process were administratively transferred to SS-Strafbataillon on the Russian Front, with where their life expectancy could be measured in hours. These were penal battalions which were used as kamakaze units.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was charged with complicity in plans to overthrow the Third Reich. Admiral Canaris was likewise charged with subversive conduct and both died just days before the Flossenburg camp’s liberation.
Leanne’s basic premises is correct: Many Schutzstaffel (SS) officers refused to carry out orders – hence defense claims of impelled perpetration asserted by defendants that actually did follow illegal orders were deemed meritless by the war crimes tribunal at Nuremburg.
My late sister studied the Holocaust for her Ph.D. and spent the rest of her life studying the perpetrators and the crimes, mostly in Poland. Many surviving SS Einsatzgruppen killers would not talk to her, so I interviewed many of them on her behalf during my work periods in Europe. They were usually in their 70’s and 80’s at the time I interviewed them and more candid than they probably should have been.
The SS Einsatzgruppen veterans who claimed to have successfully refused shooting orders were mostly liars dodging West/East German legal processes. In the DDR it was a prison offense to have served in the SS. In BRD, former SS men suffered a variety of legal disabilities, so they banded together. Claiming to have virtuously refused orders to kill untermenschen was a standard Einsatzgruppen defense against BRD and DDR legal actions.
Most SS never received any extrajudicial killing orders (below). You would ask those that did to identify other members of their units at the incidents and they would claim they were all dead. But the others usually weren’t and you could get quite different stories from the others when you tracked them down. Of course the others would claim to have not shot untermenschen, but this became a constant refrain.
This said, only a very small percentage of SS men were actually in the Einsatzgruppen and ordered to shoot untermenschen. The seven Einsatzgruppen never had more than 3,000 men total and even with OrPos, and Ukrainian auxiliaries (Trawniki men) the population of those ordered to kill was never more than 10,000. There were about 750,000 to 900,000 active SS men during the killing years, so about 4% tops.
Excellent commentary. Not because I support Trump or support Slotkin. But because it is the dirtiest of dirty politics. As a spouse at home during Desert Storm, the political criticisms of a conflict cause great angst to those left behind to think their spouse might be harmed and it might have been unnecessary. My apologies to all the Vietnam widows. It wont happen, but I hope the Slotkin group are all prosecuted so people will understand what they did wrong. I thought our leaders were smarter than that.
I agree. I stand by the families of those who have loved ones who protect our nation at their own peril. They are heroes that we should be thankful for.
Superb analysis. One thing jumped out at me was her use of the word “illegal”. By whose definition was it illegal? Was it ever adjudicated? At best, these people were irresponsible and even slanderous as well as being on a par with January 6th in terms of endangering our fine country and its laws…..
Good analogy.
If a U.S. Army private who is 18 years old is going to disobey orders, he will be expected to understand complex legal arguments as to what is and is not illegal.
I see our other senator had the sense to refrain and stifle any seditious statements. I want proper frog marches and perp walks for the seditious six. This is a carefully constructed and polished psy op designed to foment confusion and undermine the commander in chief, the POTUS. These lawmakers have drawn a line in the sand and crossed it. If AG Bondi grows a pair, which I seriously doubt will happen, buy popcorn!
great
The concerns regarding Slotkin, et al could be very much on the mark. It could be mere alarmism to worry about illegal orders when a President suggests in print that Senators should be hanged. It could be that legality is, after all, mere matter of opinion rather statute. Alternatively, one could read Articles 90 and 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And one could consider whether times of controversy and conflict such as ours are precisely those in which a reminder of bedrock principles of ethics and morality are most necessary.
The key issue here is “lawful”.
There were many draftees who refused service in Vietnam on the grounds that it was an undeclared war and hence illegal. They did not fare well in court when prosecuted.
Muhammad Ali was vindicated by the federal appellate courts on the grounds he was exempt as a religious “minister” of the Islamic faith.
Any U.S. serviceman who follows the advice of Slotkin could be court-martialed. Then he will need a JAG to argue that orders were “unlawful”.
Then again, AIPAC-endorsed Elissa is a big cheerleader of Trump’s buddy Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud coalition regime committing genocide against Palestinians.
Today’s NY Times:
Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime
Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the escalating military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.
Bill, another hot button issue you’ve put your finger on! Don’t get burned 🙂
1) Treason? No. But very close. Treason requires a declared war. But since presidents have been conditioned not to declare war for the clown show it starts in congress, it hardly needs a “declaration” to effectively wage war. Is this defacto treason? Yes! Should it be punishable by capital punishment? If intent to pull off what I explain below? Yes!
Here is how these yahoos are attempting to pull off effective treason . . .
A. They are setting up a dog whistle. No, no illegal order identified . . . yet
B. But, when the time is right, the seditious, brainless, commies who have infiltrated the US government, using their own whacky perception of the law, will alert the “useful idiots” through press conference when it is time to disobey, and they will cover them.
C. This is setting up coup d’etat version X.YY. People BEWARE!!
2) Sedition? Yah, you-betcha! But who cares? They’re all seditious. Shades of John Adams! What is that now? A misdemeanor?
Hitler didn’t just court martial his insubordinate’s. He guillotined many of them.
The method to use when believing a superior is issuing illegal order(s) is to resign your commission or quit the service. That preserves your honorable discharge. Then you can bad mouth the order all you want. I know, it is a high stakes game. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot of useful idiot court marshalling going on.
Now, here are my questions for the TBR gang . . .
1) Mike Rogers has been noticeably quiet. Are you “4 Imprint” certain he wouldn’t partake in an illegal order announcement? I have consistently maintained his oath of fealty to Trump is as hollow as a Biden auto pen. And that he and Slotkin are cut out of the same cloth.
2) Do you really want high profile Senators like these representing you in Congress? Do you really hate DJT that much? Sheeesh. If so, you need to be thrown out of the Christian ethics club.
3) Whither Slotkin? I think she has shown her stripes. Rebel through and through. Totally antithetical to a Jewish state. Soros-ite. In your heart of hearts, can you actually vote for her?
Thanks Bill!
Excellent analytical column today from Bill Ballenger
Also excellent comments from Leanne to attorney counselor Chuck Moss
Please read Jonathan Turley in today’s Freep
Since Trump fired all the JAG officers, no one is there to even counsel on “illegal” orders. Voila! Just the bone spur hobbled CIC (and marginally, if that, qualified appointees) to attempt to define.
“Since Trump fired all the JAG officers, no one is there to even counsel on “illegal” orders.”
This is not true. Trump fired 5 JAG officers in February, out of a commissioned corps of 4,500 JAG officers. There is no shortage of JAG officers “to even counsel on “illegal” orders.” 4,495 were not fired.
Our Constitution makes the President the Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, with the exclusive authority to commission or fire officers of all branches and corps. Firing JAG officers is the military equivalent of the President firing U.S. Attornies, a time honored tradition.
It was the leadership of the JAG corp that was fired. And why were they fired? According to Pete Hegseth, the removals were necessary because he didn’t want them to pose any “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” Nothing says you intend to issue illegal orders like admitting you don’t want legal issues to get in the way. And a few days after Slotkin’s statement, we are executing helpless surviviors from a previous attack. Do we think that is lawful? Are we proud of that?
Once again, President Trump is constitutionally the Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. Devious brass hats in the military officially answer to him, but frequently attempt to manipulate the military to suit their own political preferences. The Biden military’s embrace of transgenderism was supported enthusiastically by the TJAGs and is the very reason they are gone. The TJAG’s departure from the JAG Corps in no way eliminated “counsel on illegal orders”, which was the false claim in the original statement commented on.
President Trump is entitled to select military commanders who promote his agenda and remove commanders who oppose his agenda. Perhaps you should refresh your memory on the fate of General Douglas MacArthur.
The archetypical recent example of brass hat insurrection is the treasonous Mark Miley conspiring with PLA General Li Zuocheng on Oct. 30, 2020 The giggle here is Xi Jinping found General Li no more trustworthy than General Miley and sacked him in 2022 for “corruption”.
Lord Acton’s dictum does not just apply to Trump. It also applies to the TDS ankle biters who torment him daily.
“Trump purging military JAG lawyers so they won’t be ‘roadblocks to anything that happens’ over next 4 years, Hegseth says”. That says it all. And your point about the president having authority to replace people has nothing to do with the issue. The president can do foolish, dangerous or threatening things. Simply because he has the authority to do them,doesn’t mena they aren’t foolish, dangerous or threatening.
““Trump purging military JAG lawyers so they won’t be ‘roadblocks to anything that happens’ over next 4 years, Hegseth says”. That says it all. And your point about the president having authority to replace people has nothing to do with the issue. The president can do foolish, dangerous or threatening things. Simply because he has the authority to do them,doesn’t mena they aren’t foolish, dangerous or threatening.”
The issue was Drooling Joe’s embrace of transgenderism in the military. This was supported enthusiastically by the TJAGs and is the reason the TJAGs were fired. Trump and Hegseth had every reason to believe that the TJAGs would launch a campaign of malicious compliance, as they did in the first Trump Administration. No executive will put up with active insubordination, no matter how much it would please you politically.
Trump and Hegseth want a military that is feared, not a laughingstock staffed by a bunch of freaks in skirts and garish makeup. You are much less likely to wind up in a war if your adversaries fear you. You are likely to be in a war if your adversaries think your military is a lame freak show.
Do you think that hordes of combat hardened Russian muzhiks are going to hesitate tearing into a lame, freak show military? The Russians did not hesitate to invade Ukraine despite a lot of chest thumping by Drooling Joe’s candy assed national security team.
It is not foolish to take prudent measures to avoid wars. There are at least a million dead in Eastern Europe who would endorse this observation, if they could.
A three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled that SoW Hegseth was legally entitled to issue his transgender exclusion order. That order was the very reason that the TJAGs were fired and was the second illegal order claim of CIA Slotkin, Spaceman Kelly, and the Seditious Six.
It is quite unlikely that SCOTUS will reverse the D.C. Circuit.
For every loss, there is a gain. For every jubilation, there is a pain. I am jubilant that Donald J. Trump dodged a bullet to take the reins from a runaway team heading for an abyss. BTW, the national debt is now the equivalent of 380,000 tons of hundred dollar bills. A convoy of semis with 380,000 tons of hundred dollar bills going by your house at sixty miles an hour would take about five hours and be almost three hundred miles long. Merry Christmas to each and every one of my fellow human beings who may happen to read these words. P.S., These are the good old days.
Nice and informative article, Bill. And a good appearance on OTR as well.
Well, since Mr. Moss is not in the DOJ, and I am not especially impressed with Pam Bondi or her deputy Todd Blanche, I doubt we will see anything done using section 2387 on this issue.
But I have to admit, Slotkin using it as a fundraising opportunity is a bit tacky, even for a politician. Nothing cedes the high ground like asking for money, particularly since the likelihood of her being indicted by a Washington DC grand jury is as likely as my regrowing my hair and having all the gray simply disappear. Especially since she can’t cite any specific “illegal orders” that Trump has issued. And Senator Mark Kelly has some problems today dealing with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press as to whether if he were still in the USAF if he would refuse to attack the suspected Venezuelan drug boats in the Caribbean. Grandstanding in action.
The Democrats expect to win the 2026 elections and take over the House of Representatives. One of the many impeachments President Trump will face afterwards will allege that the bomb attacks on Venezuelan drug smuggling vessels were illegal, undertaken pursuant to illegal orders. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen claimed yesterday that President Trump’s strikes against the Venezuelan drug smuggling vessels constitute a “war crime.” No mention will be made of the Light Bringer’s 563 drone strikes, which resulted in the deaths of 3,797 people, including 324 civilians and at least 8 U.S. Citizens. There are special rules for Democrats.
CIA Slotkin and Spaceman Kelly are telling the military and IC that they will be brought up on charges in 2027 for following President Trump’s Venezuelan drug smuggling vessel orders. This warning is intended to disrupt the U.S. military’s chain of command.
You are correct.
President Obama signed off on killer drone strikes including one that killed an American Agency of International Development employee being held hostage by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan – along with an Italian national that the U.S. paid reparations to that decedent’s family.
I had predicted over 10 years ago that targeted killings against suspected al-Qaeda members broke a psychological barrier that would lead to extrajudicial assassinations of other foreign nationals – including suspected drug dealers.
Targeted killings violate international law and innocent parties are often “collateral damage” – remember the 1976 targeted killing of Chilean activist Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. that also killed his American assistant Ronni Moffitt? CIA contractor Michael Townley was convicted and served a short prison term.
As we wake up on Monday following the publication of the current Ballenger Report we discover that illegal orders can in fact be identified. Senator Slotkin as part of the “Six Seditionists” has been vindicated. The Washington Post, owned Trump’s buddy Jeff Bezos reports a second strike was verbally given by Secretary Hegseth to kill off the two survivors of the first attack hanging on in the water. If found to be true following a congressional investigation, now being called for by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, it is either a war crime or murder.
We all know Pam Bondi will never prosecute Hegseth. At a minimum, Pete Hegseth should be impeached for his illegal order by the House of Representatives. Trump can’t pardon him from impeachment. A trial in the Senate would then proceed before the 2026 elections, just what Speaker Johnson would want to avoid. I would expect Hegseth to resign or be fired before any House impeachment vote. If four Republicans signed a discharge petition to release the Epstein files and all but one Republican voted for that legislation, at least four Republicans will vote to impeach Hegseth.
It is doubtful that Bezos has much influence with the very creative WaPo reporters.
From UPI:
Nov. 29 (UPI) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied ordering the U.S. military to “kill everybody” and said news reports claiming such are “fake news.”
Hegseth was responding to a report by the Washington Post on Friday that accused Hegseth of verbally ordering military personnel to kill all 11 crew members by carrying out a second strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel on Sept. 2.
That strike was the first of many targeting drug vessels in international waters, but the Washington Post only cited anonymous sources to back its claim, which the Defense Department has called fabricated and “fake news,” according to The Guardian.
“We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday,” Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post on Friday.
“These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of the whole cloth,” Parnell continued.
“Fake news is the enemy of the people,” he added.
Hegseth went further, calling the Washington Post report “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”…….
Press Secretary Leavitt has confirmed that Hegseth gave the order for the second strike according to The Hill. Also, the point is not whether the president has the authority to appoint certain people to certain positions. That is a red herring. The point is the circumstances and the purpose, which Hegseth admitted was to avoid the JAG officers getting in the way of what Trump wanted to do.
There is a subtle difference between ordering a second strike to sink a boat full of fentanyl and “kill everybody”.
“The Washington Post, owned Trump’s buddy Jeff Bezos reports a second strike was verbally given by Secretary Hegseth to kill off the two survivors of the first attack hanging on in the water. If found to be true following a congressional investigation, now being called for by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, it is either a war crime or murder.”
Feeling any discomfort after reading yesterday’s New York Times?
‘Hegseth Ordered a Lethal Attack but Not the Killing of Survivors, Officials Say’
Story pretty much demolished the salacious WaPo lies which you enthusiastically embraced.
Bill,
As a former racing commissioner what are the odds that Secretary Hegseth will follow through on to his directive to the Pentagon to complete its review by December 10th on what charges to bring against the “Seditious Six,” including Michigan’s U.S. Senator Ellissa Slotkin for telling troops not to obey unlawful orders?
What are the odds Secretary Hegseth follows through and recalls Senator Mark Kelly back to active duty so he can demote him in rank and cut his retirement benefits?
Now that Hegseth may be facing war crimes or murder charges himself for authorizing a second strike to kill two survivors what are the odds he’ll actually call in Senator Kelly for a uniform inspection on whether Kelly’s wearing his ribbons in correct order when he’s recalled to active duty?
Only Spaceman Kelly would be subject to the jurisdiction of the UCMJ. UCMJ only applies to active duty, inactive duty, and retired reserve members (those subject to recall to active duty) of the U.S. Armed forces
Kelly is a retired Captain in the United States Navy and retired reserve.. He need not be recalled to active duty to be tried, but this is customary in these situations where the activities under scrutiny affect the Armed Forces.
You need to explain the probative value of third hand military scuttlebutt, in a newspaper article, to support your allegations. How is it superior to good old fashioned hearsay which no one considers admissible in legal proceedings?
Good point. We do not know all the facts.
David Barbour says
(Edit)Hegseth makes the “Seditious Six” look like prophets.
David B.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been widely misquoted today about DoW Secretary Hegseth’s role in the 02 September fentanyl smuggling boat strike(s). The actual quote of Ms. Leavitt, beginning at 11:09 in today’s WH press briefing::
“Secretary Hegsth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct kinetic strikes on September 2nd against presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups. Admiral Bradley worked within his authority to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States was eliminated.. The administration defends these strikes as necessary to combat illegal narcotics ”
Nowhere does she say that Secretary Hegseth specifically ordered a second strike, but she does make the case that a second strike would be lawful under President Trump’s 24 November designation of the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. This applies the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to the Cartel and its activities, authorizing any and all military actions. This is the same application of law which justified the Light Bringer’s 563 drone strikes.
So . . . you’re saying the first strike on Hiroshima was OK . . . but the 2nd strike on Nagasaki was overkill and a war crime?
Kinda gives my earlier statement, “using their own whacky perception of the law” a whole validating perspective.
How dare we kill the bad guys in a walk over. TV wants a close hard-fought tussle. Sheeesh.
20,000 Korean slave laborers perished in the Hiroshima atomic bombing – they were victims of the Japanese aggression in WWII.
Both Gen. MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz felt the nuclear bombing of Japan was against everything they were taught about ethics in warfare.
My father took [a little] part in the planning of the invasion of Japan sans the atom bomb. The figures he said he saw ranged from 400,000 to 800,000 allied fatalities . . . from a country already on its knees.
Another remote relative of mine, William T. Sherman, was famously misquoted to say, “War is Hell”. Personally, I prefer the misquote. And damn the secret societies still looking for Sherman’s relatives.
Drug deaths in America have been estimated in the hundreds of thousands. And we are squabbling over one shot or two? Just to bring down a political adversary? Trying to rationalize war, or things done in the self-defense of one’s country, just lose rationality of scale. Nuremburg only pounced on Germans, not Japanese. And I didn’t see MacArthur or Nimitz resigning their commission nor campaigning for Truman being tried for war crimes.
World War I shows over prescribing war punishment to be setting the stage for the next one. Lincoln was quoted as saying, “Let ’em up easy”. It would have worked well if he hadn’t been assassinated. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord.
MacArthur was canned by President Truman in 1951 for advocating the use of atomic weapons on China and North Korea during the Korean War, among other acts of insubordination.
Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Nimitz were mostly upset at having been excluded from atomic weapons decision making during WW II. But that exclusion maintained the level of secrecy which the Manhattan Project needed to be successful. None of the three were especially tight lipped.
In my first response to this week’s topic, I referred to “coup d’etat version X.YY”. Of course I was alluding to the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax (RRR Hoax) as well as other recent innuendos spoken by recent democratic influencer statements. I took most of this activity to be rather recent and typical of communist/socialist mentality in general.
However, I happen to be reading a work by Anthony C. Sutton, The Wall Street Trilogy, A History, which is a compilation of three works: 1) Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, 2) Wall Street and FDR, and 3) Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler.
In book 2) Wall Street and FDR, Sutton describes a little remembered event known as the [Major General Smedley Darlington] Butler Affair, in 1934. In it, nearly all of the elements of the RRR Hoax were perpetrated on an unsuspecting government and general populace. So much of it really appears as a dry run for what occurred recently. Including,
+ a kindly but doddering elderly Biden-like statesman with good reputation but nowhere near the sophistication to pull off the plot mechanistic. FDR in this case
+ an organized group of plotters ready to pull off a 25th amendment-esque type of shadow government in case the president became incapacitated while in office. General Butler in this case. All without actually removing the president but instead encouraging him to semi-retire to a beach somewhere. Sound familiar?
+ fake news accomplices, actually called “fake stories” at the time by none other than the New York Times, Time Magazine and others
+ useful tool congressmen, in the know, and repeatedly pleading either the 5th, or a whole bunch of “I don’t know” or “I don’t recall” pleas
The whole incident was predicated on a known frail FDR not being able to continue in his duties due to some anticipated medical event. The only problem with this case was that the leader of the plotters, Butler, was reluctant and eventually turned adversary.
The organized group of plotters were a collection of FDR’s business and political acquaintances who were co-located at the Equitable Office Building at 120 Broadway, New York City. The group included elements from The Bank of New York, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, J P Morgan Bank, American International Group, General Electric, General Motors, the Federal Reserve Board of NY, FDR, Bernard Baruch, Gerard Swope (president of GE and later head of the NRA), and many, many other entities, all residing at this same physical location.
This was essentially the same group that Sutton, in the first installment, 1) Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, also implicates as formulating, encouraging and funding the actual Bolshevik revolution in 1917.
I wholeheartedly recommend this rather dry read to any true history buff in the TBR crowd. You will swear it reads as current news events with only the names and faces changed to protect the guilty.
Thank you for indulging us, Bill.
Antony C. Sutton, not Anthony
The most disturbing thing about the video Slotkin and the other Congressional members have created is that it comes from veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces and the intelligence community. To see it come from the members of the “Squad” or other militant left wingers would not be a surprise.
If Slotkin wanted to attack the Trump administration she could have credibly done so by slamming Ambassador Mike Huckabee and the Trump White House regarding Huckabee’s off-the-books welcome at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem of paroled American spy Jonathan Pollard.
Pollard’s breach of national security cost the U.S. an estimated $2 billion to retrofit and readjust U.S. intelligence facilities around the world to protect them from compromises that left them vulnerable to attack from adverse foreign intelligence interests.
At the time of his parole, Pollard in New York had a coming-out party attended by top Jewish-American business and government leaders, including at least one sitting U.S. Congressman. He later emigrated to Israel where he now lives.
Huckabee’s conduct and that of GOP leaders in Washington via their silence was nothing less than reprehensible. But Democrats did not attack Huckabee and the only expressions of outrage seemed to be directed from the U.S,. intelligence community.
When we speak of “dual loyalty” it not only encompasses certain Jewish-American elements – it also covers Christian Zionists such as Huckabee – who see a loyalty to the State of Israel that extends to nefarious individuals such as Pollard.
Pollard and others defending our nation who have rejected valid orders and oaths should be denounced in no uncertain terms.
The conduct exhibited by Slotkin and Huckabee toward anti-American behavior is disgusting and should be condemned.
Agree wholeheartedly. I was working for our local defense contractor at the time of the Pollard arrest. Amazement and dismay followed throughout the industry. While I don’t call myself a Christian Zionist, my political alignment parallels the Zionist movement a lot. Zionism is NOT illegal. It simply represents a group of people believing Jews deserve a homeland in the area of their historical national ancestors. They are a miracle, not a pariah.
I believe the Jewish people (not the Jewish religionists) are the legitimate endemic population. Palestinians are NOT the genetic progeny of the Canaanites nor the Philistines. They are roughly equal to the Jews genetically, ie, S[h]emites. Recent reference works such as, The Search for Eve, confirm this. They should be welcoming Jews home as cousins and they should be merging into the state of Israel since they have NEVER established themselves their own nation historically, ever. And they have a history of trying to take over their Arabic or Jewish host countries. Just ask Israel, Lebanon, Syria and especially Jordan.
Back to Pollard . . . right on . . . although I like and respect Amb. Huckabee, this is clearly not his finest hour. Bad move, Mike.
In 2020, the U.S. Parole Commission’s jurisdiction over Pollard expired and he became a passenger of a private jet owned by Sheldon Adelson and was flown to Israel where he was greeted by PM Netanyahu with residency papers.
Adelson’s widow, Miriam, recently donated $20 million to the GOP primary election candidate opposing Kentucky U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie – who currently is the only Republican U.S. member endorsing an arms embargo upon Israel.
Jonathan Pollard may be anathema to patriotic Americans – however many Israel supporters consider him a hero.
Thanks for the comment.
Pollard has stated he felt his meeting with Huckabee at the U.S. Embassy was leaked by the CIA chief of station in Jerusalem.
At the time of his 1985 arrest, Pollard was working as a spy for the intelligence arm of the Israel Defense Forces. There was proof that he was being paid $5,000 per month from the treasury of the State of Israel while he was imprisoned in the U.S. while serving a life sentence.
To have a United Sates ambassador have a private meeting at an embassy facility with someone with Pollard’s record is astonishing.and the Trump administration failure to take appropriate corrective disciplinary action is puzzling.
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