The Department of War announced on Monday that it had initiated a “thorough review” of the serious allegations of misconduct against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) “to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.” This action followed Kelly’s participation in a reckless video in which he and five other lawmakers urged members of the military to reject unlawful orders.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a Marine veteran and member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was clearly unhappy with the War Department’s decision and first responded to the announcement on X with a simple message: “F*** you and your investigation.”
Perhaps thinking that didn’t go far enough, he followed up with a foul-mouthed video rant as he drove through Arizona. Here’s what the junior senator had to say:
Hey, this is Ruben Gallego, I’m traveling through Arizona right now, and I just see the news that Department of Defense is starting an investigation against my seat mate, Mark Kelly. This is f***ing insane. We should all point out how f***ing insane this is. And, you know, these guys are trying to say that they’re not acting like fascists, they’re not trying to give as much power to this president as a king, then they should stop acting like it.Mark Kelly is a patriot. There’s no reason why they’re going after him. He was doing his duty and just reminding people about their rights as service members. And, you know, Secretary Hegseth, all these guys, f*** you guys. You’re not gonna be able to scare us. We have a right to defend the Constitution of the United States. We have a right to tell our other service members that they have they, they have a right to ignore illegal orders, and you’re not going to be able to intimidate us.
Later, Gallego appeared on CNN, where he warned military leaders that “there will be consequences” once President Donald Trump leaves office if Kelly is court-martialed.
In the clip below, CNN host Kasie Hunt asked Gallego how much trust he has in the military justice system.
He replied:
I trust them actually a lot. … These are professionals, they are also swearing to the Constitution of the United States. They know there will be fallout or consequences if they are used in a hard way to basically railroad someone like Senator Kelly because Donald Trump is going to be gone in a couple of years.And if you’re part of the military that is going after sitting senators, sitting members of Congress, and part of the weaponization of government, there will be consequences, without a doubt.I think there’s going to be a lot of officers that will be part of this potential tribunal, if they want to call it that, that will be looking over their shoulders. Because they know that Donald Trump will be gone and they will not have that protection. They’re going to have to do the safest thing possible, which is follow the Constitution of the United States, and you’ll be fine.
Fox News reported that later in his remarks, Gallego said, “Also, you‘re just seeing things that aren‘t very normal. You have the Marines who are walking around Los Angeles. You have National Guardsmen coming from different states into other states, even though those governors did not request that. You have a politicization of the military, that has never been seen before until this president has done it. And then, you also hear the president saying things that are, on its face, illegal.
First, as one reader correctly notes, the Constitution does not state that “military members — active, reserve, or retired and collecting benefits — cannot be court-martialed.” Rather, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) governs courts-martial.
Second, it’s astonishingly presumptuous for a freshman senator to warn military officers to “look over their shoulders.” Such rhetoric borders on intimidation and could easily be interpreted as a threat.
Gallego might do well to sit down, stop running his filthy mouth, and start learning before he damages his reputation and his credibility any further.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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