Retired Army general fears Trump's 'retribution campaign' will have 'chilling effect'

In a video released in late November, a group of military veterans — including Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) — urged members of the U.S. Armed Forces to disobey orders from President Donald Trump if they are blatantly illegal.

In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is saying that Kelly will be investigated for his role in the video. But the Arizona senator isn't backing down. During a Sunday, November 30 appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Kelly called out former Fox News host Hegseth as the most unqualified defense secretary in the history of the Pentagon.

Washington Post reporters Noah Robertson, Tara Copp and Sarah Ellison, in an article published that day, examine Hegseth's use of the Pentagon as a tool of retaliation against Trump's opponents.

"In targeting Kelly and another prominent Democratic critic of the (Trump) Administration," the Post journalists explain, "Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia, the Defense Department under Hegseth has been co-opted into the president's norm-shattering bid to exploit what are supposed to be the nonpartisan tools of government to crush political foes. The Trump Administration has sought to punish its enemies through mortgage fraud investigations overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and through criminal probes that Trump personally demanded the attorney general pursue. Enlisting the Pentagon in this effort poses a unique threat to American democracy, according to historians, retired military officers and legal experts."

The Post interviewed a retired U.S. Army general, who spoke on condition of anonymity and warned that Trump's "retribution campaign" will have a "chilling effect."

According to the Post reporters, "He identified three scenarios: a civil suit, an IRS audit, or a recall to active duty where, conceivably, he could face criminal charges in the military’s justice system."

"Both Hegseth and Trump have labeled the video message 'seditious,' comments that multiple retired military lawyers said probably violated the lawmakers' due process and could undercut any criminal case the administration may seek to bring against them," Robertson, Copp and Ellison explain. "Even among legal experts and retired officers critical of the Trump Administration, the video has been controversial. Some have argued it was unclear who specifically the message was directed at and risked confusing personnel conducting high-pressure missions. But no one who spoke for this report thought the content was illegal."

During a November 30 appearance on MS NOW, former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance offered legal analysis of the video and Hegseth's Pentagon probe of Kelly.

Asked if Kelly and others in the video had any "legal exposure," White emphatically responded, "No, they don't have any legal exposure."

Read the full Washington Post article at this link (subscription required).