House Speaker Mike Johnson defended President Donald Trump saying that Democratic members of Congress who said that members of the military should uphold their oaths to the Constitution committed treason and should be executed.
A handful of Democratic members of Congress and senators who served in the U.S. military or intelligence posted a video on social media on Tuesday saying that members of the military can refuse illegal orders.
The video included Reps. Chris DeLuzio (D-Penn.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.) as well as Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
Conservatives raged against the video and Trump said “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
Later on, Trump reposted users on Truth Social saying they should be hanged and later said they committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” which was “punishable by DEATH.”
But Johnson said that Trump simply defined what crime they committed.
“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.”
Specifically, Johnson called out Kelly, who had previously confronted Johnson during the government shutdown for not swearing in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) for more than a month after she won her special election.
“This is out of control and is wildly inappropriate,” Johnson said. “And for a senator like Mark Kelly, or any member of Congress in the House or Senate to be engaged in that kind of talk is is, to me, just so beyond the pale.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries defended members of his caucus for their words.
“We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous threats against members of Congress and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same,” Jeffries said. Jeffries said Democrats had been in contact with the House Sergeant at Arms and U.S. Capitol Police about the safety of members.
Jeffries has long been an ally of the president even when he has called for acts of violence.
Johnson, then a backbencher member of Congress, led an amicus brief in a Texas lawsuit to invalidate the 2020 election results in swing states that Joe Biden won. After the January 6 riot, Johnson still voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results.
