Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Tuesday that a viral video from Democratic lawmakers quickly fell apart under scrutiny, as they don’t have a proper answer when asked about its premise.
Democratic veterans and one former CIA operative, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and four House lawmakers, all partook in a video encouraging U.S. service members to disobey unlawful orders, but never specified what those orders were. Several of these lawmakers, like Slotkin, have been asked if President Donald Trump has issued any illegal orders, to which Slotkin said she isn’t aware of any outside of “some legal gymnastics.”
York said it isn’t yet known who pitched the idea for this video, and said the “most amazing” thing about this video campaign is that it is built on a claim that couldn’t “survive” its first question.
“The first question asked being, ‘Well, has President Trump issued any illegal orders?’ And then they have to say, ‘Well, no,’ and the whole thing falls apart!” York said on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
“So this is not three-dimensional chess, this is just thinking, ‘OK, what’s the first thing we would be asked if we did this, and do we have an answer for that?’ And when they decided that they did not have an answer, that they’d have to come up with something ridiculous like the Nuremberg trials or the movie A Few Good Men, then they should’ve just dumped the idea altogether,” York said.
The Pentagon is investigating Kelly over his participation in the viral video, to which he said he is “not going to be silenced.” York agreed with host Hewitt’s assessment that Republicans pursuing “military justice” against Kelly’s participation comes across as “overkill.”
York added that Kelly “may or may not” pursue a presidential bid in the future, and the criticism directed at the senator is “entirely appropriate.” Still, he said Republicans should leave the matter as it is.
TRUMP ACCUSED DEMOCRATS OF SEDITION. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
The FBI and Justice Department contacted the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms on Monday to begin scheduling conversations with the lawmakers following the release of their viral video.
Like York, Washington Examiner contributing writer Joe Concha is critical of the lawmakers who participated in this video, calling them, “31 flavors of stupid.” He encouraged Republicans to hold hearings and ask these Democratic lawmakers to specify what illegal orders the president is giving.
