After six members of Congress posted a video reminding members of the armed forces that they are not obligated to follow unlawful orders, President Donald Trump said the legislators were "traitors to our Country" who should be prosecuted for "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL." Whatever you think of that video, its production plainly did not qualify as treason or seditious conspiracy under federal law. Now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is trying a different tack, suggesting that Sen. Mark Kelly (D–Ariz.), a retired U.S. Navy captain, may have violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) by participating in the video.
How so? "The only code provision that addresses mere speech," notes David Cole, former national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, is Article 88, which prohibits "contempt toward officials."
