'Trump picked the wrong person': Mark Kelly fires back in escalating 'Seditious Six' row

"I think he was a horrible and failed president in his first term. He has exceeded all expectations about how bad he can be in a second term," Arizona Senator Mark Kelly told the BBC as he launched a scathing attack on the President over what he believes is an attempt to undermine the U.S. Constitution. Trump is a guy "that does not understand the Constitution of the United States and what makes us a great country," Kelly said, "As Americans, we have First Amendment rights to speak our mind…and what he (Trump) has done to us has chilled the freedom of speech of other Americans."

Kelly, a retired astronaut and naval officer, was referring to the fierce legal and political battle he and five other Democrat veterans are fighting with the Trump administration, after being labelled the "Seditious Six" for a video advising U.S. troops to refuse "illegal orders." In the video, released last November, amid rising questions of legality regarding U.S. strikes on alleged narco-trafficking boats off the coast of South America, Kelly and the other Democrats say in the video: "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders."

Reacting to it, the Pentagon initiated steps to demote the former Navy Captain, which could result in a reduction of his pension. In a post on X, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote, "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." President Trump, too, berated Kelly in a series of Truth Social posts, accusing them of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL" that demands the death penalty. 

Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon from punishing Kelly. "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," the judge wrote. Hegseth, however, has said the judge's order would be "immediately appealed".

Speaking about the Trump administration's actions against himself and other Trump critics, Kelly told the BBC that the President has a habit of "doubling down on bad ideas."  "I think he's got pretty thin skin. And he's got a huge ego, and he doesn't like people who disagree with him. He's gone after members of the press…he sues media companies, he sues law firms; he's got people to capitulate," Kelly said of Trump, adding, "I think in me, he picked the wrong person. Because this is not gonna end by me going away. I'm going to continue to fight this thing, even if it's all the way to the Supreme Court."

Kelly also informed the BBC that President Trump's "reckless" statements have jeopardized his and his wife's safety. "A lot of people listen to Donald Trump. And when he says things like 'hang them', it elicits a reaction from a lot of his supporters,” Kelly said, adding, "The number of death threats we get went up by a factor of 10. We get them on a weekly basis now. Not just against me, but against Gabby (Giffords) as well." He, however, assured that the threats would not stop him or his wife from doing their job. "We are lifetime public servants. I've fought for the Constitution of the United States, for my country. I'm gonna continue to do that, and Donald Trump is not gonna stop me from doing my job," he said.