Pentagon threatens to prosecute Senator who urged troops to ignore illegal orders

Pentagon threatens to prosecute Senator who urged troops to ignore illegal orders.

Judge dismisses DOJ cases against Trump foes Comey and James.

The Pentagon has threatened to recall Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy captain, to active service in order to prosecute him for “serious allegations of misconduct” in a military court. The threats came after Kelly and five other sitting Democratic members of Congress (all former military or intelligence officers) urged members of the military to refuse orders from their superiors which may be illegal.

This threat against Kelly comes a week after President Trump characterized the Democrats’ November 18 statement as “seditious behavior, punishable by DEATH!”. Under the military code of justice, sedition is a crime punishable by death.

Kelly, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and former NASA astronaut, remained defiant. “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly said.

What was the Democrats’ statement about?

The Democrats’ statement did not specifically mention any theaters of operation where they believe the US military is acting unlawfully. However, the statement came amid growing concerns from both parties that the Trump administration’s military campaign targeting boats in the Caribbean may violate both US and international law. The British government has already stopped sharing intelligence with the US from its outposts in the Caribbean over concerns about the campaign’s legality.

Since September 1, the US military has killed at least 80 people in over 20 strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The Trump administration claims that these boats were used in narcotrafficking, but have not provided evidence. The administration also the strikes are justified because they have designated Latin American drug traffickers to be “foreign terrorists”.

Since the boat strikes began, several high-ranking US military personnel have resigned or abruptly retired, but have not openly criticized the Caribbean campaign. This includes Army Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff); Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command; and most notably Adm. Alvin Holsey, former U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) chief. It is possible that the Pentagon’s threat against Sen. Kelly is also a message to those former officers, who could also be involuntarily recalled to active service.

Trump admin designates Venezuela’s Maduro as member of terror organization.

Judge dismisses DOJ cases against Trump foes Comey and James

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie has thrown out the Justice Department cases against former FBI Director James Comey and NY State Attorney General Letitia James. Currie determined the prosecutions were invalid because the Trump administration’s appointment of Lindsey Halligan (the interim US Attorney who brought the case) was itself unlawful. The judge did not comment on the merits of the cases themselves and dismissed the cases “without prejudice”, meaning the Justice Department could decide to refile the cases later. The DOJ announced that it would appeal Currie’s ruling.

The cases against Comey and James resulted from a now-deleted TruthSocial post by President Trump addressing US Attorney General Pam Bondi. Many believe that Trump meant the post to be a private text message to Bondi. In the post Trump demanded that the DOJ prosecute Comey, James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, though he did not specify what charges to bring against them. Ultimately, Comey was charged with obstructing Congress and James was charged with mortgage fraud.

In the same post, Trump proposed nominating his former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan to interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia so that she could bring the cases. Halligan assumed the position that had recently been vacated by Erik Seibert, who resigned due to pressure from the Trump administration to bring prosecutions he believed were meritless.

Why was Halligan’s appointment “unlawful”?

Judge Currie said that once Seibert had served in his position for 120 days (which he had as of May 21, 2025), the power to appoint any replacement rested solely with the judges of the federal court district.

Previously, judges have disqualified Trump administration-appointed interim US attorneys in other districts, but allowed any cases they brought to continue. In this case, Currie agreed with Comey’s and James’s defense attorneys that the cases brought against them must be thrown out. This was because Halligan was the sole prosecutor who signed their indictments after other attorneys in her office refused.