AZ Political Podcast: Former JAG Corps Navy attorney on potential Mark Kelly court-martial

My guest this week on the AZ Political Podcast is Tim Stringham, a recovering politician and former military lawyer. He helps me break down the political headline for Arizona and the nation: the idea that U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly could be recalled to active duty in the Navy in order to be court-martialed.

Ultimately, Stringham (who served in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps after a stint in the Army) thinks that Kelly won’t end up in front of a military judge (and a jury of admirals and generals) being tried for telling military members that they can refuse illegal orders.

Kelly, along with five other congressional Democrats who served in the military or an intelligence service, conveyed that message in a video to which President Trump took exception.

But what would it look like if U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona were court-martialed?

Despite Stringham’s belief that Kelly won’t be tried (for myriad reasons), we still go through the possibilities and the process that a military prosecutor would need to go through to make it happen.

As well as the potential for enormous pressure a JAG attorney might feel from their commander in chief to go through with it.

With a former JAG in the house, I figured I’d tap his knowledge to ask about what constitutes illegal orders, whether they’re occurring in the U.S. military’s targeting of suspected drug-smuggling boats and whether a Pentagon inspector general report does, in fact, clear Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of any wrongdoing for his part in sharing Yemen strike plans on a Signal app chat with non-government officials.

We wrap up our time talking about … Tim Stringham — because it turns out he’s as fascinating as the topics he’s versed in — especially when it comes to the fascinating turn his life is now taking.

Stringham, who lost the 2024 election to be Maricopa County recorder, has not only set aside his political aspirations, he’s essentially setting aside law degrees from Notre Dame and Georgetown in order to become a high school history and government teacher.

I’m sure he’ll be quite a teacher — I sure learned a lot from him in just a few minutes.

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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