Pentagon reportedly escalates review of Sen. Mark Kelly’s role in illegal orders video

PHOENIX – The Pentagon reportedly is “escalating the preliminary review” of Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly’s appearance in a video where he and other congressional Democrats told members of the military and intelligence community they don’t have to follow illegal orders.

Punchbowl News and other outlets, citing a statement from a Department of Defense official, reported Monday that the probe has become “an official command investigation.”

Punchbowl News also obtained a letter from Kelly’s attorney to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatening legal action on the senator’s behalf.

Kelly’s lawyer sent a letter to Navy Secretary Phelan earlier today that states, in part: “If the Executive Branch were to move forward in any forum—criminal, disciplinary, or administrative—we will take all appropriate legal action on Senator Kelly’s behalf to halt the… https://t.co/N0M76jGmbE pic.twitter.com/UtDNtINj6S

— Briana Reilly (@briana_reilly) December 15, 2025

Command investigations are a common tool used by military officials to look into allegations of wrongdoing that don’t rise to the level of criminal charges. It is less common for them to be used against a retired service member, much less a sitting member of Congress.

What did Sen. Mark Kelly say about review escalation?

Furthermore, Kelly issued a response accusing President Donald Trump and Hegseth of using him as an example to discourage others from speaking out.

“It should send a shiver down the spine of every patriotic American that the president and secretary of defense would abuse their power to come after me or anyone this way,” Kelly said in a statement.

The illegal orders video was posted on Nov. 18 and became headline news two days later when Trump said on social media it was “seditious behavior” and “punishable by death.”

On Nov. 24, the Pentagon announced it was reviewing “serious allegations of misconduct” against Kelly and said the retired Navy pilot could face court-martial proceedings.

A day later, the Democrats in the video, all of whom have military or intelligence experience, confirmed that the FBI had asked to interview them.

Hegseth has said that Kelly, and not the other lawmakers in the video, is under investigation because he, as a retired Navy commander, is currently subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice while the others aren’t.

Sen. Mark Kelly says he won’t stop ‘fighting for this country’

Kelly, who has questioned the legality of U.S. military strikes on boats suspected of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, maintains that the video didn’t contain anything inappropriate.

“It wasn’t enough for Donald Trump to say I should be hanged,” the Arizona Democrat said. “It wasn’t enough for Pete Hegseth to threaten me with a court-martial. Now they are threatening everything I fought and served for across 25 years in the U.S. Navy — all because I repeated something every service member is taught.”

Last week, The Hill reported that the Navy submitted a report on the potential punishments for Kelly. The senator’s office said he wasn’t contacted about the report.

“If Trump and Hegseth think this will stop me from doing what I’ve done every day of my adult life — fighting for this country — then they’ve got the wrong guy. Tomorrow, and the next day, I will keep doing my job representing Arizona,” Kelly said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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