Sen. Mark Kelly on Monday sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for trying to reduce his retirement rank and pay, which he called an “unconstitutional crusade” against him.
Mr. Hegseth initiated the censure in November after Mr. Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers — all veterans of the armed forces and intelligence community — appeared in a social media video urging military troops to defy “illegal orders” and uphold the Constitution.
The video was first posted on the X account of Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Democrat.
Mr. Kelly, Arizona Democrat, spent roughly 25 years in the Navy as a fighter pilot and NASA astronaut. He said the Pentagon’s move against him sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military.
“If you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even persecuted,” Mr. Kelly said Monday on social media. “Every servicemember knows military rank is earned, not given.”
The video didn’t mention any specific instances of illegal orders being given to the troops. But it was released amid a series of U.S. military attacks on suspected narcotics trafficking boats in the Caribbean.
“Pete Hegseth wants our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and pay years or even decades after they leave the military, just because he or another Secretary of Defense doesn’t like what they’ve said,” Mr. Kelly said. “That’s not the way things work in the United States of America, and I won’t stand for it.”
