'Picked the wrong guy': Mark Kelly targets Trump, Hegseth over alleged retaliation

U.S. Senator Mark Kelly delivered a strong message to the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing it of attempting to violate First Amendment rights, which guarantee freedom of speech. Kelly accused the President of trampling upon this right. He exemplified his statement by claiming that President Donald Trump had called for his prosecution after he urged service members to stay true to the American Constitution.

"Last year, I said something that the President didn't like…that service members need to follow the law," he said at a public gathering with his family and U.S. veterans. "But the President said I should be prosecuted and hanged. Then he tried to throw me in jail," Kelly added, and accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of trying to demote him and take away his pension. "All for something I said that I had the right to say as a Senator, as a veteran, and most importantly, as an American," Kelly said.

According to a CNN report, a three-member panel at the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals spent an hour hearing the Justice Department's argument to punish Kelly over urging service members to refuse to carry out illegal orders after a federal judge ruled Hegseth's plan as being unconstitutionally retaliatory. As per the report, the bench is expected to rule in Kelly's favor. "These are people who served their country – many put their lives on the line...And you're saying that they have to give up their retired status in order to say something that is a textbook example taught at West Point and the Naval Academy – that you can disobey illegal orders," Judge Florence Pan, one of the judges in the panel, was quoted as saying. 

The federal court hearing is expected to be a closely watched case, with many viewing it as a fight for freedom of speech. During his address, Kelly said that the right to free speech was a fundamental right, which allowed people to ask questions of the government. "The President was trying to silence us," Kelly said, adding, "I can't think of anything that's more un-American." 

The Arizona Senator said that he was not "backing down" from the administration’s attacks. "This administration has bullied and coerced the press, private companies, and universities. This list goes on. But in this case, the President and the Secretary of Defense picked the wrong guy. When it comes to our most fundamental rights, I will not back down," he asserted.