By Adeola AdeosunShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberVice President JD Vance responded on Sunday to Senator Elissa Slotkin's comments on ABC News' This Week where the Michigan Democrat acknowledged being unaware of any illegal orders issued by President Donald Trump involving the U.S. military.
Vance reposted the interview clip on X and wrote on Sunday: "If the president hasn't issued illegal orders, them [sic] members of Congress telling the military to defy the president is by definition illegal."
The exchange follows Trump's Saturday Truth Social post calling for imprisonment of lawmakers who released a video encouraging service members to refuse unlawful orders and past comment accusing the Democrats of “seditious behavior” he considered “punishable by death.”
Slotkin told ABC News co-anchor Martha Raddatz that Trump's attacks are "a tool of fear" designed to silence critics.
Why It Matters
The dispute centers on fundamental questions about military chain of command, constitutional authority, and separation of powers. Six Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds released a video on Tuesday telling service members of their legal obligation to refuse illegal orders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Trump's comments have drawn criticism across party lines, with Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, telling ABC News he would "tone down the rhetoric." The Democratic lawmakers who made the video have reported receiving threats, requiring increased security.
The controversy has also escalated tensions over military deployment practices, particularly National Guard operations in Democrat-led cities and reported U.S. strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific regions to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country .
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What To Know
The video featured Senators Slotkin and Mark Kelly of Arizona as well as Representatives Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Jason Crow of Colorado. Trump initially called their actions "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH" on Thursday, though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified he was not calling for the execution of elected officials. Trump's attacks have continued despite White House denials.
Under the UCMJ, service members must obey lawful orders but are obligated to disobey unlawful ones. The code provides no protection for soldiers who follow illegal directives, a principle established by the Nuremberg Trials following World War II. Slotkin told This Week on Sunday that the lawmakers created the video after military officers approached them directly with concerns and questions about legal orders.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired top uniformed military lawyers in February, calling them "roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief." Slotkin's primary concern centers on U.S. military use on American soil, noting courts have overturned military deployments into U.S. streets, including Washington, D.C., Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
"When you look at these videos coming out of places like Chicago, it makes me incredibly nervous that we're about to see people in law enforcement, people in uniformed military get nervous, get stressed, shoot at American civilians. It is a very, very stressful situation for these law enforcement and for the communities on the ground," the congresswoman said. "It [the video] was basically a warning to say, like, if you're asked to do something particularly against American citizens, you have the ability to go to your JAG [Judge Advocate General's Corps] officer and push back."
When pressed by Raddatz on whether Trump had issued illegal orders, Slotkin said she was unaware of anything illegal but noted "there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela."
Slotkin also said on Sunday that the president is "trying to get us to shut up because he doesn't want to be talking about this."
"In fact, I would argue that one of the things that he's been doing by repeating it and talking about it is trying to distract us from the big stories of last week, which were the Epstein files and then the economy."
Meanwhile, McCaul disagreed about the "illegal orders" on Sunday during his appearance on This Week, stating the Caribbean strikes against alleged drug vessels are legal under Article 2 self-defense provisions of the Constitution to stop drugs from entering the country.
...What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week during a press briefing: "They're suggesting...that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this chain of command, through the secretary of war, is lawful
Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor, previously told Newsweek: “The statements made by the representatives were legally accurate; servicemen are not supposed to follow illegal orders. There is nothing improper, much less seditious, about that statement. The question I would ask the White House is whether they expect the military to obey an illegal order?”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday: “I know the [Department of Justice] and the Pentagon are looking into the legality of all of that. But what I can address is what everybody knows—that was wildly inappropriate. It is very dangerous. You have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders. I think that's unprecedented in American history."
The Democratic Caucus wrote Thursday on X: "Trump just called for the death of Democratic elected officials. Absolutely vile."
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