Closing summary
Now that Donald Trump has arrived in Palm Beach for a week mostly out of public view, we will wrap up our live coverage of his second administration for the day. We will be back tomorrow, just in case. Here are the latest developments:
The FBI has requested interviews with the six Democratic members of Congress who took part in a video where they told members of the military to “refuse illegal orders”.
Donald Trump’s defense secretary, the former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, escalated his attack on one of the lawmakers in the video, Arizona senator Mark Kelly, by ordering the secretary of the US Navy, former Trump donor John Phelan, to investigate “potentially unlawful comments” made by Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut.
A small number of Republicans rallied in defense of Kelly, including senators Lisa Murkowski and John Curtis, former senator Jeff Flake, and congressman Don Bacon.
Before Trump pardoned two turkeys, he repeated a lie that he has been telling since his federal takeover of policing in Washington DC in August. “We haven’t had a murder in six months,” the president said of a period during which 62 people were murdered, including two dozen since his federal takeover. The names of 21 of the victims who have been killed since Trump seized control of Washington’s police force are available on the police website.
Eric Swalwell, a Democratic congressman from California who is running for governor on his record as an outspoken Trump critic, filed a civil lawsuit accusing Trump’s Federal Housing Finance Agency director, Bill Pulte, of abusing his power to retaliate against the president’s political opponents, including Swalwell.
Some Republicans join Democrats to defend Mark Kelly from Trump and Hegseth's attacks
Democratic lawmakers have rallied in defense of senator Mark Kelly, the retired Navy pilot and astronaut who has been threatened with arrest by Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, for taking part in a social media video reminding active-duty service members that they do not have to obey unlawful orders.
They have been joined by a small number of Republicans.
Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021, and was reelected in 2022 by defeating a Trump-backed rival, voiced her support for Kelly in a social media post on Tuesday.
“Senator Kelly valiantly served our country as an aviator in the U.S. Navy before later completing four space shuttle missions as a NASA astronaut,” Murkowski wrote. “To accuse him and other lawmakers of treason and sedition for rightfully pointing out that servicemembers can refuse illegal orders is reckless and flat-out wrong. The Department of Defense and FBI surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation.”
John Curtis, a senator from Utah who appeared with Kelly last week at a “Modeling Civility'” event on the campus of Utah Valley University, where the Republican activist Charlie Kirk was killed, praised Kelly in a post that made no reference to the trumped-up charges against him.
“As a colleague, I respect Mark Kelly and value his friendship,” Curtis wrote. “I know him as someone whose career has been defined by service. His record as a combat naval aviator and NASA astronaut reflects his example of the discipline and dedication that are important for success.”
One day earlier, Don Bacon, a Republican congressman from Omaha, Nebraska , and a retired Air Force general, responded to the defense department’s threat to bring Kelly back into active service and court martial him, by writing: “Amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense.”
Bacon added that he thought the video Kelly took part in was “foolish” but, he added, “the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy. Let’s show some common sense and restraint.”
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator from Arizona who served as the US ambassador to Turkey during the Biden administration, also spoke up for Kelly, who entered politics after his wife, Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head while serving in Congress.
“Mark Kelly is a good man who has served his country honorably in the past and continues to serve honorably in the U.S.Senate,” Flake wrote. “What he and his wife Gabby have sacrificed for this country is immeasurable. I’m proud to call him my Senator.”
