Mark Kelly: ‘I’m Not Gonna Be Silenced’ - HEROIC!

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Mark Kelly Claps Back At Trump Amid ‘Death Threats’ Over US Army Remark: ‘I’m Not Gonna Be Silenced’
Hook Global
Dec 2, 2025 UNITED STATES

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly on Monday (December 1) said death threats against him had increased as he renewed his critique of President Trump amid threats by the White House to recall Kelly to active Navy duty to prosecute him under military law for urging troops to disobey illegal orders.



Transcript

Good afternoon everybody. Seems like most of you guys are here.
Um and thank you for taking the time. Uh let me get started. So throughout his
entire career in business, reality TV, and politics, Donald Trump has had one
and only one play, bullying his opponents into silence.
He did it as a failed casino owner who bankrupted his properties and screwed
over his contractors. He did it as a reality TV host known for
firing people. And he's done it as as president who
tries every day to intimidate people with no regards for the rights or
well-being of the American people. I'll say this for the guy.
While he's never seemed to do much else right for most of Donald Trump's career,
bullying people has worked out for him. But not now
because I won't let it happen.
The American people won't let it happen. President Trump is trying to silence me,
threatening to kill me for saying what is true.
And he sent his secretary of defense after me. And it's not going to work.
Here's how we got here. A week and a half ago, Senator Slaken
and I along with others who also served in the military and the intelligence communities, we released a video with a
simple message to service members that they must refuse illegal orders.
Nothing was controversial about that.
Everyone must follow the law. No one may break the law. This is pretty
basic stuff. Seeing that video,
here's how any other president would have responded.
They would have said two words, of course.
But that's not how this president responded. We become so accustomed to Donald
Trump's behavior that it is worth emphasizing.
The president of the United States said that two US senators and four members of
the House of Representatives should be arrested, hanged, executed
for something we said, for something that is true.
My family knows the cost of political violence. My wife Gabby was shot in the
head and nearly died while speaking with her constituents.
The president should understand this too. He has been the target of political
violence himself. The speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Melissa Hortman, and
her husband were murdered in their home this year. The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh
Shapiro, had his house firebombed this year. Then Charlie Kirk was assassinated
at Utah Valley University, a place I visited just a few weeks ago with Republican Senator John Curtis.
Faced with a wave like this, every other president we have ever had in the
history of this nation would have tried to heal the country.
But we all know Donald Trump. He uses every single opportunity to
divide us and that's dangerous.
The president's words carry tremendous weight. People listen to him
and he knows that. And that's exactly why he does what he
does. He makes these threats to silence
people. And if that doesn't work, he abuses his power to intimidate people.
And with the consent of Republicans in the United States Senate, he has surrounded himself with people like the
Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsath, who will do whatever he says, with no
question, no matter what. Trump and Hegsth, they care more about
publicity than they do about the rule of law. That's how I ended up finding out via a
tweet that the Secretary of Defense was ordering an investigation into me.
The same Secretary of Defense who has from the moment he was nominated has
been historically unqualified for this position.
the same secretary of defense who is reported to have ordered a second strike to kill
shipwreck survivors in the Caribbean. If there is anyone who needs to answer
questions in public and under oath, it is Pete Hgsath.
It's a dangerous moment for the United States of America when the president and his loyalists use every lever of power
to silence United States senators for speaking up. But we all know that this isn't about me
and it's not about the others in that video. They're trying to send a message
to retired service members, to government employees, to members of the military, to elected
officials, and to all Americans who are thinking about speaking up.
You better keep your mouth shut or else.
This has been a singular focus of President Trump's second term.
Not addressing costs, not creating jobs, intimidating people, and going after the
people he views as his political opponents. He's done it to companies.
You better write a check to build my ballroom or I might not approve your merger.
He's done it with universities. You better fire your president or I'll pull your research funding.
He's even done it to late night hosts. You better not make jokes that I do not
like or I'll get you taken off the air and I'm going to take your company's
broadcast license. And he does it every week with Republicans in the House and the Senate.
You better tow the party line or I'll make sure you never get reelected.
Folks, this comes at a cost. And not only to American companies,
colleges, and comedians. It damages every American's freedom of speech and
the balance of powers that form the foundation of our democracy.
Because when Republicans in Congress are too afraid to dis disagree with this president, it means that his bad ideas
go unchallenged. He has slapped reckless tariffs on
countries across the globe, skyrocketing the cost of everything from groceries to school supplies.
Republicans historically, well, at least a year ago, they hated terrorists.
But when it comes to voting to undo them, they are too afraid of Donald Trump.
So Americans pay more for just about everything because of spineless
politicians. It's the same with health care costs.
There are Republicans in the House and the Senate who really want to do something to prevent these health care
premiums from spiking for millions of Americans. The solutions are simple,
but President Trump says he doesn't want to, so nothing happens. Nothing except a
government shutdown. It goes on and on.
The president has gone too far. Everybody needs to wake up.
The occupant of the Oval Office is ignorant to the Constitution
and has no regard for the rule of law. Trying to silence me in proposing to
court marshall me in threatening to kill me for fighting back when our democracy
demands that we must fight back. President Trump has crossed the line.
And this time it's not going to work. I will not be intimidated by this
president. I am not going to be silenced by this president or the people around
him because I've given too much in service to this country to back down to
this guy. In 1991, when Donald Trump was driving the Taj
Mahal casino into bankruptcy, I was getting shot at over Iraq and
Kuwait. In 2001, after Donald Trump said that the
collapse of the Twin Towers meant he now owned the tallest skyscraper in
Manhattan. I was carrying flags honoring 9/11
victims into space on a rocket ship. In 2003,
when Donald Trump was writing birthday greetings to the monster Jeffrey Epstein,
I was the first on the scene to recover the bodies of my fellow astronauts who died when Space Shuttle Colombia
exploded during re-entry in 2011.
When Trump was hosting a reality show and pedalling conspiracy theories
against President Barack Obama, I was sitting next to my wife's hospital bed
as she recovered from a gunshot wound to the head.
My point is this. I've been through a lot worse in service to my country. The president and Pete
Hegsath are not going to silence me. They aren't going to keep me from
speaking out and they're not going to keep me from doing my job.
Enough of the bullying, enough of the intimidation, enough of the threats,
enough of your nonsense doesn't help anyone in our country
afford their groceries or pay their medical bills. and it erodess the rights
of every American. My job is to fight for them, to stand up
for the Constitution, and nothing nothing is going to stop me from doing
my job. Thank you. And I'll take some questions.
Hold on a second. Give me give me give me that that folder
there. Just sit this down here. Can you I know it's Manu from CNN, but
for everybody just starting with you, just say who you are. You know what? Uh
what station? Um uh the White House said today that Admiral Bradley gave the
order for that second strike on the Venezuelan boat. They also said this was a lawful strike yesterday. You said the
second strike could be a war crime. Do you think that Bradley committed a war?
Let me let me just start Manu by saying that there needs to be an investigation.
We need to pull some of these members of DoD and the military into the armed
services committees in the in the House and the Senate. You know, that's what the what the White House is saying. I
hope what has been reported is not accurate. I have such I rever members of
the United States Navy, especially special operators, Navy Seals. These are the most highly trained, you know,
individuals in our military. I have deep deep respect for them. So I hope what we are hearing uh is not not accurate. I
will say though, you know, as somebody who has sunk two ships myself, that um
folks in the military need to understand, you know, the law of the sea, the Geneva Conventions, what the
law says. And I'm concerned that uh if there were in fact as
reported, you know, survivors clinging to a damaged vessel
that that could be, you know, over a line. I hope it's not the case. I truly
do. Should Admiral Brad have resisted that order? Again, I am, you know, not sure of all
the facts yet. Uh, I don't want to prejudge before we have all the
information. I think it's important for there to be an investigation. The inspector general, inspectors general of
DoD needs to investigate this. Unfortunately, an unqualified secretary of defense fired a bunch of them and got
rid of a bunch of lawyers. I mean, Pete Heg, do I have a lot of confidence in DoD? Well, hopefully we have, you know,
inspectors general there that will be doing an impartial investigation and I think we should wait for the results of
those investigations. Regarding your this press conference,
the investigation into your actions, have you spoken with um or DOJ or
anyone? Have there been any conversations, any interviews yet? You know, like I said in my remarks, I was
notified of a potential court marshal through a tweet by the Secretary of
Defense. I mean, think about that for a second. How ludicrous is that? That's the only notification that we have
received to date. And I think that says a lot about who Pete Sec Pete Heg is and
what he cares about. He doesn't care about the law. He doesn't care about process.
He he doesn't care about accountability. He cares about views
on his Twitter account. And that's a big problem. I mean, I want to ask you guys
this question. Have you ever in the history of our country seen a less
qualified or less professional Secretary of Defense? I cannot think of one.
Senator Kelly Nathaniel Scripts News. Um, are are you concerned about threats on your life? Have you stepped up your
personal security and of course the security of your wife? Hey, I'm no stranger. You know, Gabby
and I are no stranger to political violence. We get a lot of threats already. She continues to get threats. She gets threats on her life
more so today because what Donald Trump said about me 10 days ago that I should be hanged, that I should be executed,
the threats on us have obviously gone up. I'm not going to get into details about my personal security. We take
these threats very seriously and I take, you know, the threats from this
president seriously. How many times in our country's history have you heard a
president of the United States say that members of the Senate and the House
should be hanged and executed? I mean, I can't think of one.
Those words carry a lot of weight. The number of calls we threatening calls that we get into our office have
skyrocketed and they're very graphic. I mean, some of them were put not from my office, but
another member put them put them out there for people to hear. Ones we get are worse than that.
So, I take this seriously. But again, you know, that's why he does these
things because he thinks he can shut me up. I have first amendment rights. I'm a
United States senator. I am doing my job. I'm on the on the armed service of the intelligence committee. He ain't
going to shut me up. I mean, he he intimidates other people. I'm not intimidated by Donald Trump or
Pete Hexath or anybody else. Thank you, Senator Nicole Kelly with CBS
News. Are you aware just back on Venezuel are you aware of whether or not the secretary has had and secretary hex
is if he's had any conversations with any members of the armed services committee and in terms of these calls to
investigate do you believe the secretary and admiral Bradley should appear before
they absolutely should appear you know I've talked to the chairman of our services about it and the ranking member
they should absolutely appear I'm not so confident they will this is not an admin administration that tends to follow any
norms. Um, but we need to get to the bottom of
this of what happened. And um, we are not Russia and Iraq. I'm really
concerned if the reporting is correct. Again, I hope the reporting about this
incident is not accurate. What the White House said today actually indicated it
might be, but we're going to have to see. Going back to the Dut matter, are you
considering any legal action for the threats of being court marshaled or any of the threats of investigations?
You mean like me suing Donald Trump for what he said? I think what he said about us is dangerous.
It's ridiculous. It is a violation of our constitutional rights as Americans
and our rights as senators to do our job. And he's trying to intimidate us. But I have not considered that not not
at this point. Yeah. Thank you. Secretary,
do you see this as fundamentally first amendment issue for you that you want to
highlight against the president who's trying to silence you and how do you see
the whole process playing out? Well, again, this isn't really about me
and that's why I think people are kind of got this a little bit off here. It's not about
me. It's not about the other five members in the video. It's not about Alyssa Slacken,
Chris Duzio, Chrissy Hulahan, Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander. It's not
about us. This is about a president who doesn't want anybody to say anything
that he does not like. I don't think he understands the Constitution.
I'm serious about this. I think he is ignorant to the constitution and the rule of law and he just wants to silence
us and it starts with us and that's one of the reasons people say well why wouldn't you like just you know back off
because this isn't about me this is about what he will do next who's he going to go after next which service
member you know which government employee which citizen who decides to
say something that this president doesn't like and then he goes goes after
them. In my case with the Secretary of Defense, who knows what's next with the attorney general. I mean, this DOJ has
been just, you know, attacking people for all kinds of stuff. And what's next?
Our first amendment rights ain't happening.
Yeah. No, the Washington Post. Um, can you tell us anything more about the FBI
involvement in the inquiry that you and the other lawmakers appear in video schedule with them?
We haven't heard all that much. We've got we got notified. I think I think the better question is what is their
motivation? Like did this come from the FBI? Did the do you do you guys think the FBI they went into their like you
know meeting that morning and said of all the stuff that's going on in the country right now we got to get right on
top of this these guys said something the president didn't like and now we've
got to do something about it or do you think it's possible but the president told his FBI director to tell the FBI
agents to reach out to these guys so I think this is a good question for you
all of you in here should asking the FBI those questions. I don't have the answers to them. Yeah.
Can you tell us anything more about the the Senate Armed Services Committee's inquiry into the the September 2nd
strike, the nature of the request for information submitted, what information has been sent back from DoD so far in
your conversations with the chairman? Well, we had a brief on the first three strikes. Um,
and and I have said this, you know, before 10 days ago that the, you know,
they're tying themselves in knots trying to explain why this entire operation is legal. And I imagine eventually,
I hope you have an opportunity to see the legal argument that they made
to do this. It's important for the American people to see it.
um we have to get folks before the committee and you know that process
might take a little while. Um but I ultimately think we're going to get to the bottom of this and again if what
seems to happen actually happened I'm I'm really worried about our service members. I I I I was I was talking about
this from the beginning of this operation that the thing that I am most concerned about
is the very difficult situations that this secretary of defense is going to
put service members into. And it's because this guy is so unqualified for
the job. I mean, think about this. He runs around on a stage talking about
lethality and warrior ethos and killing people. We
have the most competent, capable military this planet has ever seen by
far. That's not the message that needs to
come from the Secretary of Defense. The message should be about what's our
what's our mission and accountability and the rule of law and training and let
me make sure you're equipped to do really hard jobs. Let me give you all the tools you need to do something that
often is an impossible mission. And instead he runs around on a stage like
he's a 12-year-old playing an army. And it is ridiculous. It is embarrassing
and I I I can't imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy in this
job. One of the most important jobs in our country in my view after the
president of the United States. It is the next most important job. He is in
the National Command Authority for nuclear weapons. And last night he's
putting out on the internet turtles with rocket propelled grenades killing.
I mean, have you seen this? This is the Secretary of Defense. This is not a serious person. He should have been
fired after Signalgate and then every single day after that.
ABC News. Just to put a finer point on it, because you were quite vocal about the sort of flimsy legality that was
being offered during the briefings, were these sort of strikes that are now in the news, what you were making reference
to when you posted that video telling members of the military that they needed to feel okay just obeying orders that
they felt based on who this president is and who the secretary of defense is is and
specifically things that the president has said in the past and things he was
talking about doing in the future. Let me give you an example. 2016, he's talking about something on a debate
stage that was clearly illegal and he was reminded by Brett Bearer from Fox News that that would be an illegal
order. Military won't do that. You know what the president's response was to that? The military will not refuse my
orders. Implying that even if they are illegal, they will not refuse them. He's also
talked about shooting protesters in the legs. Then he's talking about deploying more troops to American cities and using
those cities as training grounds. Do you know what that means? That means using
the American people for the military to train on. So we were looking forward to
try to head something off at the pass that could have been really, really bad.
So it wasn't about this specific thing. Yeah.
Jennifer with newsroom. The NDAA conference report is set to come out later this week over the weekend early
next week. In addition to that, you all have not yet conferenced out the defense appropriations bill for the current
fiscal year. Do you see either of those as options for you and other lawmakers concerned about the defense department,
the actions in Venezuela, and other situations to address those legislatively? the NBA or defense
program. Well, I think it could be if we could get bipartisan support to do something like that. Sure. That's sometimes
challenging because, you know, remember my Republican colleagues, not all of
them, but most of them are fearful of this president. They do not want to cross him. I mean, they see what just
happened to me. I said something that he did not like and he said I will be
hanged, executed, prosecuted. He doesn't even have the order right.
Yeah. Senator Michael with MS. Now, you mentioned earlier that the video was
meant to tell service members something that's already law that they're not required to obey to to act on legal
orders. Since it already is the law and presumably service members are aware of the law, why didn't the six of you guys
feel it was necessary to make the video? Well, I think it's good for people to get a reminder and we wanted to show
that we had their back and we understood the situation they were in. Pretty simple. And we said something that is in
the uniform code of military justice according to the law of armed combat.
Um, you know, we stated something pretty simple. every every service member doesn't hear these reminders as
frequently as other service members. So it was we felt it was important to say under the circumstances.
Uh right here I'll come to you next. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Senator Joe with the Associated Press. When you participated
in the video, did you expect that the president would respond? Is that part of your expectation?
We did a video before that he did not respond to. I I was really surprised
that he responded at all. And I thought if he was going to respond
to what I just said when I gave my remarks, I thought he would have said, "Of course, members of the military
shouldn't follow illegal orders." So when he said, you I was sitting in the
skiff next to Alyssa Slacken, by the way, when somebody comes in with a little piece piece of paper and it says,
I could see what it said on it as it was handed to her. President just called for your execution.
She leaves the room. Five minutes later, she comes back. She says to me, "He's called for your execution, too." That
was not the response we expected. Senator Lisa from PBS. Two questions. As
you say, you're still gathering the facts. Still not clear exactly what happened here, but if the Secretary of
Defense did issue an order to kill people after on a second strike like
this, um, is that an impeachable offense? taking apart the numbers in the house but in theory is that a
potentially individual offense to you and then second a shift healthare short
time here to figure out what's going to happen in healthcare just what's your involvement right now in talks where
does that stand well you know on the on on the first question I think that's a question for
attorneys I am not an attorney I don't pretend to be one um
but only senators and members that is true I of course I I do not know
the specifics, you know, on that part, you know, of the law about impeachment.
And again, let me remind folks that we're in the early days of this and I think it's important to get all the
facts for we'd understand exactly what happened. Again, I hope what is being
reported is not the case. Uh, but there needs to be an investigation and we are
a country of laws. You know, despite the apparent situation we're in with a
president of the United States who, in my opinion, does not respect the law. We're a country of laws. We got to hold
people accountable on the healthc care, you know, situation. We've got we've got some time. Uh I'd like to see a
bipartisan solution because millions of my constituents, the people I represent in Arizona and millions of more people
across the country are not going to be able to afford their healthcare. and they're one accident or illness away
from bankruptcy. People lose their health care, they die. We can fix this. We have time to fix
this. We know what to do. But again, doesn't seem the president of the United States wants to do anything on this. If
he wants to help the American people, he should engage with the United States Congress on fixing this spiking of
premiums, fixing this issue. Yeah. Have you
public media. Have you received messages of support, public or private, from your
Republican colleagues? Yes. And some of it's public. Can you tell us a bit about
Well, I mean there some people put out statements. Um, and I got some private
calls which I will not get into, but there are some, you know, you could
Google it. There are some, you know, positive, but
we're in an unfortunate period here where we have a president that does not like to be crossed.
Uh, and he I mean, if he's going to say to a US senator that you should be
executed for what you say, that sends a very chilling message, not
only through the United States Senate and the House, to Republicans, but across the entire nation.
Thank you, Senator Ryan of Fox News Radio. I wanted to see whether it's the FBI or the Department of War. You know,
a lot of them are requesting hearings or investigations with you. Are you planning to cooperate if that is the
case? I will follow the law. Yeah. Senator Jim with Boston. You mentioned
that some of your Republican colleagues have been bullied by president. with regards to the folks rights in the
Caribbean. What's your level of confidence that this investigation in the Senate Armed Services Committee will
go forward? I have confidence, tremendous confidence in the chairman of the Armed Services
Committee, Roger Wicker, Senator from Mississippi, and the ranking member Jack Reid. And I I've spoken to him about
this, and I know he's going to try to do a thorough job. Where I don't have a lot of confidence is in the secretary of
defense and what he has done to this department, firing JAG officers, firing inspectors
general. He's decimated it. Uh I mean firing people in the leadership of DoD
just because of the color of their skin or if they were a woman. So I have I
have I have about zero confidence in the Secretary of Defense. I have tremendous confidence in the chairman of the armed
services committee. Yeah.
[Music] Senator Shots tweeted this afternoon said PsF needs to testify in the month
of December before we pass a defense authorization. And I'm just curious as a member of armed services, do you agree
with that approach? Should Democrats be open to potentially, you know, holding up NDA to leverage
information process. I spent 25 years in the United United States Navy. I understand the importance
of the defense bill and the programs that we authorize and the changes we make the policy through that piece of
legislation. I I've talked to Senator Shots and we'll
continue to talk about this, but I in general my view, you know, on this is
we've got to be very thoughtful about how we handle the process of the defense
bill. Yes. Yeah. Just to clarify, you were not brief on
the double tap of the first strike. another group included that if he will
not testify will you call on of South K to come in and testify and then lastly
on Venezuela should the United States inside Venezuelan territory do you think
that so I'm going to have a conversation with the chairman and the ranking member about who specifically you know we bring
in to testify whether we do it in public or not I would generally prefer public
hearing we should probably do both, you know, one in a classified setting, one publicly so the American people could
see I'm still trying to figure out the justification that Donald Trump has uh
if he was to, you know, conduct kinetic strikes into Venezuela. What's the goal?
Why hasn't he communicated this to the American people? That's the job of the president, to lay out a case before we
go to war. And if it is about removing
uh Maduro, I mean, how do you square that with pardoning Juan Hernandez who
is basically the same guy from a different country who got sentenced to 45 years in prison and he's barely been
there. He's probably hasn't even gotten settled in yet and the president's going to release him. Doesn't make any sense.
And I'll tell you what, regime change as a policy of the United States generally
in our history has not worked out well. Think of South Vietnam. Think of the Bay of Pigs, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
It results in the deaths of US service members without the intended outcome.
And in this case, I don't even think we know the intended outcome. president needs to make a case to the
American people when he is about to put thousands of American men and women in
harm's way. This is not the way to manage the US military. Hey, I want to thank all of you for spending the time
here today. I'm sorry the room is so warm in here, but we'll uh we'll cool it down next time. Thank you. Appreciate
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