In a social media post on Tuesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) issued a rare Republican rebuke of the Pentagon’s probe into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
“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,” Murkowski wrote in a post on X. “The Department of Defense and FBI surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation.”
While House and Senate leaders have said they disagreed with the language President Donald Trump used against the group of Democratic veterans and former intelligence officers, few Republicans have condemned his remarks and the subsequent scrutiny by various agencies.
Trump has repeatedly accused Kelly and five other Democrats of sedition after they posted a video last week telling troops that they could “refuse illegal orders.” He’s described their actions as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” and boosted another user’s post, which stated, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
The six lawmakers have also been contacted for interviews by the FBI, prompting the four House members featured in the video to lambaste Trump for using the agency as “a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress.”
According to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), another participant in the video, the FBI has notified the Democrats that “they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us.”
Additionally, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced an investigation into Kelly, while dubbing the Democrats the “Seditious Six.”
Kelly has emphasized that the message the Democrats were sending was “non-controversial” and simply a reminder to servicemembers to “follow the law.”
IRep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), an Air Force veteran, was also among the few GOP lawmakers who blasted the administration’s response.
“I thought the video by six Dems was unnecessary and foolish. But the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy. Let’s show some common sense and restraint,” Bacon wrote in an X post on Monday.