Washington — Top Democrats in Congress called for President Trump to be “condemned forcefully” after he said on social media that Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the military to disobey illegal orders should be arrested and face trial for “seditious behavior.”
The president said in a later post, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reposted “HANG THEM, GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking from the Senate floor Thursday morning, said “the president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials.” Schumer called it an “outright threat” that is “deadly serious.”
“Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely. None of us should tolerate this kind of behavior,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat. “He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline.”
Mr. Trump’s posts came in response to a video featuring Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, along with Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire. In the video, the lawmakers, who are veterans and former national security officials, cited threats to the Constitution while urging service members and members of the intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”
The lawmakers in the video issued a statement on Thursday saying “what’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law.”
“But this isn’t about any one of us,” the statement said. “This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.”
Slotkin posted a video response, saying, “I would hope that people of all backgrounds — Democrat, Republican, Independent — would agree that threatening death for people you disagree with is beyond the pale of who we are as Americans.”
“I refuse to be intimidated out of defending the country I love,” she said.
Houlahan said in an interview, “This is the president of the United States calling for the death of a member of Congress, six members of Congress, and that is a different brand of political violence and political retribution.”
Schumer told reporters at the Capitol that he asked for special Capitol Police protection for Senators Slotkin and Kelly.
He said “every American, regardless of party,” should condemn the president’s words “immediately and without qualification,” adding, “if we don’t draw a line here, there is no line left to draw.”
“He must be condemned forcefully, loudly and without excuses, before someone takes his words as permission to do the unthinkable,” Schumer said. “Anything less enables the flames of hatred to grow and spread.”
Democratic leaders in the House likewise condemned what they called the “disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress,” calling on Republicans to do the same. The Democrats said they have been in contact with the House Sergeant at Arms and the United States Capitol Police to “ensure the safety of these Members and their families.”
“Donald Trump must immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson initially declined to criticize the president’s remarks, telling reporters it’s “wildly inappropriate” for lawmakers to encourage members of the military to disobey orders.
“We have got to raise the bar in Congress, this is out of control,” said Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.
Johnson said the president was “defining the crime of sedition” with his comments.
But he was asked again later in the day about Mr. Trump’s comments and replied that “the words that the president chose are not the ones that I would use, okay?”
“Obviously, I don’t think that these are crimes punishable by death or any of that,” Johnson continued, and he said of Mr. Trump, “Sometimes he uses heated rhetoric.” Referring to the Democratic lawmakers in the video, he said, “Do any of you agree that that’s appropriate, that they should be telling young members of the military to defy orders?”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, too, was asked whether the president wants to execute members of Congress.
“No,” Leavitt said. “Let’s be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president’s response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military, to active-duty servicemembers, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders. The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command.”
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Patrick Maguire
contributed to this report.
