'I got shot at': Mark Kelly reacts to Pentagon's decision to demote him over 'disobey unlawful orders' video

Senator Mark Kelly, who is also a retired naval officer and an astronaut, was handed down a punishment Monday in response of his video where he urged troops to refuse any illegal orders that come from the top.

The Donald Trump administration called the video seditious as Pete Hegseth said Captain Kelly's status as a sitting US Senator does not exempt him from accountability.


"Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline. As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice," Hegseth wrote.



Mark Kelly clapped back and called Hegseth the most unqualified defense secretary. "If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government," Kelly wrote in his statement.

"Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that."

"My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my service and sacrifice for this country. I got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. I commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife Gabby recovered from a gunshot wound to the head– all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder. Generations of servicemembers have made these same patriotic sacrifices for this country, earning the respect, appreciation, and rank they deserve," Kelly wrote.