Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after President Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
Trump’s comments came after a group of six Democratic senators and representatives released a video calling on members of the military to “refuse illegal orders.”
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home,” the lawmakers said in the video released Tuesday.
Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Chris DeLuzio of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, as well as Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, were featured in the video. They have all once served in the military or the intelligence community.
In a Truth Social post Thursday morning, Trump railed against the lawmakers: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
The president wrote in a follow-up post: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reshared a post that read: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
"I never expected that just simply and clearly stating what Federal law says, would ask the president to threaten violence against me, that that's a situation we're in," Goodlander told The Independent.
Houlahan said she was not afraid after the remarks from the president.
"It's astounding that we live in a time when the President of the United States can openly threaten the lives of six members of Congress," Houlahan told The Independent.
But other Democrats are worried about the growing climate of political violence.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called his comments “deadly serious” on the Senate floor, adding, “When Donald Trump uses the language of execution and treason, some of his supporters may very well listen.”
“He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline,” Schumer said.
Kelly wrote on X that his wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords “nearly lost her life in an act of political violence. Words have consequences, especially when they come from the President of the United States.”
Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 during an event in Tucson, Arizona, by a gunman who killed six people and injured 12 others. She had to learn how to speak and walk again due to her injuries.
When asked if the president wants to execute members of Congress, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “No.”
Leavitt then criticized the lawmakers for making the video, telling reporters, “The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed. It can lead to chaos.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also rebuked Trump’s comments, telling reporters: “We had patriotic members of the House and the Senate have their lives threatened by Donald Trump in the most unhinged, unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American way.”
Schumer told reporters after his floor remarks that he requested Capitol Police give “special protection” to the lawmakers that Trump targeted.
“I have asked the Capitol Police to give special protection and keep an eye on Slotkin and Kelly as well because you gotta worry after the president says these things,” he said.
Slotkin told MS NOW Thursday night that Capitol Police told her and her colleagues that they were going to be on “24/7 security,” adding that she has police patrolling in front of her house.
“If the president is saying you should be hanged, then we shouldn’t be surprised when folks on the ground are going to follow suit and say even worse,” she told host Chris Hayes.
Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted that he didn’t agree with Trump’s comments.
“What those folks did was ill-advised, unnecessary and clearly provocative,” Thune told reporters in reference to the Democrats. “But I certainly don’t agree with the president’s conclusion on how we ought to handle it.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson was less inclined to push against the president.
“What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,” he told The Independent. “But obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that. What I'm saying, what I will say unequivocally, that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”
The speaker later took a stronger stance against Trump’s remarks, telling reporters, "The words that the President chose are not the ones that I would use.”
"Obviously, I don't think that this is...these are crimes punishable by death or any of that,” he added.
Crow criticized Johnson, telling The Independent, “Those who are in leadership positions and have taken the oath to tell the truth and to defend our Constitution, who are failing to speak up, are not fulfilling their oaths."
"I would like to see a lot of my Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate speak out about this, because this is right after Charlie Kirk's assassination,” Kelly told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Thursday night.
There’s been an uptick in political violence in recent years, including the two assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 election cycle and the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk two months ago.
Democrats have also been targeted. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence was subject to an arson attack in April, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer in the couple’s San Francisco home in October 2022.
