Sen. Mark Kelly calls Pentagon investigation into his remarks a move to chill military dissent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said Tuesday that the Pentagon’s escalating investigation into his remarks urging troops to refuse unlawful orders is part of an effort to silence dissent within the military.

“This is just about sending a message to retired service members, active duty service members, government employees — do not speak out against this president or there will be consequences,” Kelly told reporters after a classified briefing from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others about deadly strikes on alleged drug boats in Latin America that Kelly and other lawmakers have opposed.

Kelly said the Defense Department did not notify him of an investigation because “what they really care about is the public message.”

The Pentagon confirmed late Monday that Hegseth’s office escalated a preliminary review of Kelly to an official command investigation over “serious allegations of misconduct.”

Command investigations are a very common tool used by military officials to look into allegations of wrongdoing that don’t rise to the level of criminal charges. It is far less common for them to be used against a retired service member, much less a sitting member of Congress.

The investigation heightens tensions between the Democratic senator, who was a Navy fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut, and the Trump administration’s Pentagon, coming as lawmakers have increased scrutiny of the U.S. military’s attacks on boats accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

In a letter this week to the Pentagon, Kelly’s lawyers said that “there is no legitimate basis for any type of proceeding” and that “any such effort would be unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power.”

The investigation was ordered after President Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a video urging troops to defy undefined illegal orders of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”

Hegseth said Kelly faced investigation because he is the only one of the lawmakers who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction, arguing that “Kelly’s conduct brings discredit upon the armed forces.”