'Big coward': Senator claps back at Pentagon chief's court martial threat

A Senate Democrat clapped back at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during an interview on CNN over a threat to court-martial another lawmaker who spoke out against the administration.

On Monday, Hegseth threatened to elevate Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former naval officer, to active duty so he can be court-martialed after Kelly appeared in a video with five other Democrats telling military members they don't have to obey illegal orders. President Donald Trump condemned the video, calling it a "seditious act."

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) clapped back at Hegseth's threat during an interview on CNN's "The Arena" with Kasie Hunt.

"Number one, you will never, ever, ever even be half the man that Senator Kelly is," Gallego said. "You, sir, are a coward. And the fact that you are following this order from the president shows how big a coward you are. And I can't wait till you are no longer the Secretary of Defense."

The video the Democratic lawmakers posted also appears to have stoked anger from the MAGA base. Lawmakers such as Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Kelly have said they received death threats after the video was posted.

Trump has also reposted several threats from anonymous accounts to his more than 11 million Truth Social followers, calling for extreme actions to be taken against the Democratic lawmakers.