Mark Kelly Vows to Fight Hegseth’s Demotion ‘With Everything I’ve Got’

Sen. Mark Kelly said Monday that he plans to fight Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plans to have him demoted and censured over a video in which the retired Navy officer advised troops to defy any illegal orders given by the Trump administration.

“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,” Kelly posted to X on Monday. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

Hegseth announced Monday morning that Kelly, one of five veteran lawmakers who participated in the video instructing troops not to follow illegal orders, would receive a retired grade reduction — effectively a demotion in rank — and a reduction in pay over his comments.

“As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice,” Hegseth said in a post on X Monday morning.

Kelly and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who is also featured in the video, formed a legal defense fund in early December to prepare a fight against what Trump equated to sedition “punishable by death.”

“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong,” Kelly added. “There is nothing more un-American than that.”