Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that he had issued a formal censure to Democratic senator Mark Kelly and initiated proceedings that could strip the Arizona lawmaker of his retired military rank and cut his pension, escalating a dispute that began when Kelly urged service members to resist unlawful orders.
Just days after a covert mission to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and strike the capital city, Hegseth announced that Kelly faces retirement grade determination proceedings, a rare administrative action that could see the former astronaut and navy captain demoted in his retired rank. Hegseth accused Kelly of making “seditious statements” that undermined military discipline.
In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers, all military or intelligence veterans, released a 90-second video speaking directly to service members, calling on troops to uphold the constitution and defy what they characterized as illegal commands
“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,” Hegseth said in a statement posted on X, adding that Kelly “is still accountable to military justice” as a retired officer receiving military pay.
The Pentagon declined to comment further beyond the post on social media.
After learning of the censure, Kelly called Hegseth “the most unqualified secretary of defense in our country’s history” and vowed to “fight this with everything I’ve got”.
“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired service member that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way,” Kelly said in a statement. “It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.”
“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified secretary of defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it.
Hegseth’s statement claims Kelly’s conduct between June and December 2025 violated articles 133 and 134 of the uniform code of military justice, which the senator remains subject to as a retired officer drawing pension payments. The defense secretary argues Kelly “characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders”.
But the accusation on its face has been contested for months. Military law already requires that troops refuse unlawful orders, which is what Kelly and other members of Congress were echoing. And federal judges have ruled Donald Trump’s military deployments in Los Angeles and other cities violated the Posse Comitatus Act, suggesting the orders Kelly warned about may have actually been illegal.
In the video lawmakers released in November by Kelly and his colleagues – Senator Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, Slotkin acknowledged that military personnel were “under enormous stress and pressure right now” under the Trump administration’s policies.
Days after the video’s release, Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.
Kelly has 30 days to respond to the censure, which will be placed in his permanent military personnel file. The Pentagon chief has directed the navy secretary to complete the rank review within 45 days.
The move marks an extraordinary step by the defense department against a sitting US senator and threatened that more action could be coming.
“Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,” Hegseth wrote.
