Five House Democrats, led by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), said on Friday they are attempting to restore “constitutional guardrails” to U.S. military operations targeting Venezuela after President Donald Trump threatened sedition charges against Democratic veterans in Congress.
During a press conference on Capitol Hill, the lawmakers announced legislation designed to cut funding for U.S. operations in or against Venezuela, including the lethal airstrikes on boats allegedly trafficking drugs and being operated by narcoterrorists. The 21 strikes ordered by Trump have killed at least 83 people since early September.
Moulton and others called the strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific regions part of Trump’s “unauthorized war” in Venezuela.
The Trump administration “has repeatedly shown disregard for the military process,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) said. “They’ve ignored dozens of court orders, fired hundreds of military lawyers, and gutted critical expertise within our Armed Forces.”
While the press conference was largely concerned about the bill intended to end funding of U.S. operations aimed at Venezuela, the House Democrats in attendance also criticized Trump for accusing lawmakers of “seditious behavior” and suggesting they should be dead.
“Given the president’s track record, we have no choice than to take President Trump at his word because he has shown time and time again that when he threatens to abuse his power, he acts on it,” Houlahan added. “This kind of discourse fosters an environment where overreach and lawlessness become more likely, not less likely, and where the risk of being drawn into an unauthorized war and conflict grows, which is why we are here today, restoring constitutional guardrails at a moment when it is urgently, urgently needed.”
In a video posted on Tuesday, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and five other lawmakers urged military and intelligence personnel to disobey unlawful orders issued by the Trump administration. They did not specify what orders they were referencing.
Houlahan, who served in the Air Force, was among the six lawmakers with a military or intelligence background who participated in the video.
A media firestorm ensued when Trump responded to the video on Truth Social. He called for their imprisonment on sedition charges and reposted comments suggesting they should be hanged. In making the initial post, Trump cited the Washington Examiner‘s reporting on the video.
A federal charge of seditious conspiracy is punishable by fines and imprisonment of up to 20 years. Therefore, capital punishment is not considered a penalty for sedition. It is, however, a penalty for the related charge of treason.
Service members have a duty to refuse unlawful orders, as they are only required to follow lawful orders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If they follow illegal orders, they can face criminal prosecution.
“Your oath is to the law, not to any one man,” Moulton said. “That is the foundational principle of our democracy.”
“When Trump threatens lawmakers for stating that simple fact, that’s not just incendiary rhetoric,” he continued. “It undermines our Constitution and our troops. Also, threatening the lives of members of Congress is, in fact, against the law. It should be no surprise that Trump is threatening lawmakers at the same time as he has ordered thousands of American service members to deploy to the Caribbean.”
Moulton and Houlahan were joined by Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Eugene Vindman (D-VA), and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) at the press conference on Friday morning.
DEMOCRATS SLAM TRUMP’S ‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR’ POST AS A CALL FOR THE ‘EXECUTION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS’
In a recently disclosed classified memo, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that service members involved in the drug airstrikes are not liable to criminal prosecution. Vindman called the legal opinion “wholly unconvincing,” while Moulton called it “completely ridiculous.”
The legal opinion was drafted in July, weeks before the lethal strikes in the Caribbean started. The scope of the operations was later expanded to the Pacific Ocean, and strikes on land targets to combat drug trafficking may be the Trump administration’s next course of action.
