President Donald Trump denied that he was "threatening death" for Democratic lawmakers who reminded U.S. troops that they are obligated not to follow illegal orders.
On Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after they published a video advising troops to uphold the Constitution.
But in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Friday, the president denied that he had threatened Democrats with the death penalty.
"If you look at sedition, if you look at, you know, that type of, that's a form of, a very strong form of being a traitor, it's a terrible thing to say," the president said. "What they said is, and it was, I mean, I don't know about the modern day things because, you know, modern day is a lot softer, but In the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death."
"I'm not threatening them, but I think they're in serious trouble," Trump claimed. "I'm not threatening death, but I think they're in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death."
The president insisted that Democrats who made the video were "bad people."
"Now, what happens to them, I can't tell you. But they broke the law. That is a terrible statement," he remarked. "That was a traitorous statement. That was a horrible thing to do. I believe they broke the law very strongly. I think it's a very serious violation of the law."
"I think Pete Hegseth is looking into it," he added. "I know they're looking into it militarily. I don't know for a fact, but I think the military is looking into it, the military courts."
