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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday suggested that Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., may have violated his oath of office with comments he made to the press following a secret briefing.
Kelly told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation that it was “shocking how deep we got into these magazines” when asked if the Pentagon had updated lawmakers on the impact of the Iran war on the US weapons stockpile.
The Senator told Brennan the Tomahawks, the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) rounds and the Patriot rounds used to protect the US have been hit hard, adding that it will take years to fill those piles, which may affect the US conflict that is being considered.
In response, Hegseth questioned whether Kelly, a former Navy pilot, may have violated his oath and said a Pentagon attorney would review his comments.
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Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, suggested that Sen. Mark Kelly may have broken his oath with comments he made after a secret briefing. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Captain’ Mark Kelly is at it again,” Hegseth wrote in X.
“Now you’re talking bad on TV (lying and quietly) about *CONFIRMED* The Pentagon report he received,” he continued. “Did he break his oath… again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”
This comes amid a months-long dispute between Hegseth and Kelly over the MP’s participation in a video with some of his Democratic colleagues in Congress urging the US military to ignore “illegal” orders.
The DOJ opened an investigation into a video posted online featuring six Democratic lawmakers asking the military and members of the intelligence community to defy illegal orders from the federal government. Lawmakers all work in the military or intelligence agencies.
Besides Kelly, the other lawmakers in the video were Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan from Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander from New Hampshire and Jason Crow from Colorado.
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Pentagon chief Hegseth said a Pentagon attorney would review Sen. Mark Kelly. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence services against American citizens,” the lawmakers said in the video. “Like all of us, you swore to protect and defend this Constitution. Currently, threats to our Constitution do not come from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one should carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
Grand juries refused to sign the indictments filed by lawmakers in February.
In November, the Pentagon launched an investigation into Kelly, citing a federal law that allows retired service members to be returned to active duty at the order of the secretary to face court-martial or other punishment.
Hegseth accused Kelly and tried to demote him from his position as a retired captain for his participation in the video, confirming that refusing illegal orders is a normal part of military procedure.
But a federal court ruling prevented the Pentagon from demoting the lawmaker over the video. The court also found that the Pentagon may have violated Kelly’s First Amendment rights, as well as those of “millions of military retirees,” when it formally sued him on January 5.
Hegseth then appealed that decision.
Sen. Mark Kelly has repeatedly said he will not back down amid Pentagon efforts to punish him for the video. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Last week, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit heard oral arguments and appeared to be very skeptical of Hegseth’s attempt to punish Kelly for the video.
“I will not back down from this fight,” Kelly said after the hearing.
The president Donald Trump had accused the lawmakers of being “traitors” involved in “high-level treason” and “should be arrested” after the video was released last fall. He even suggested that they should be killed for this video, although he later tried to answer that.
Slotkin, a former CIA and Pentagon official, was the target of bomb threats days after the clip and Trump’s subsequent statements suggesting that Democrats be killed.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Kelly for comment.
