Donald Trump on Thursday, November 20, appeared to threaten the death penalty against elected Democratic officials who called on the US military and intelligence agents to disobey the “illegal orders” of his government. “Seditious conduct, punishable by death!” »wrote the US president on his Truth Social network. “Absolutely infamous”the Democratic Party responded to X.
Six elected Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, who have served in the military or the secret services, published a video on Tuesday on X in which they say to the military and intelligence agents: “You can refuse illegal orders.” In a message, Donald Trump described these opponents as “traitors” having one “seditious behavior”. The president was accused by the opposition of using the military without legal basis for law enforcement operations on US soil and the fight against drug trafficking abroad.
“All orders given by this Commander-in-Chief [un titre du président américain] through the chain of command, through the War Department, are legal”assured White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. ” Not “she then responded to a journalist who asked her if the president wanted to execute elected Democratic officials.
Before Donald Trump, other senior White House officials had attacked the video of the six opposition elected officials. “Democratic officials are openly calling on the CIA and military leaders to rise up against their commander in chief. Do not underestimate how dangerously radicalized the Democratic Party has become.”White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller responded to X on Wednesday.
On the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Donald Trump shared a publication from another user on Truth Social, which states: “Hang them.” “He strikes a match in a country already drenched in political fuel.”outraged the leader of the Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer.
“It’s time for moral integrity”
In a statement released Thursday, the six Democrats, including Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy officer and NASA astronaut, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who worked for the CIA in Iraq, called for “Stand together and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. It is time for moral integrity.”
Opposition elected officials received support from a group claiming to represent them “more than 360” former military and diplomatic officials, for disobeying illegal orders “is the basis of the control that civilians exercise over the military”.
The elected Democrats did not specify in their video which orders they were referring to, but Donald Trump and his close ally at the Pentagon, Secretary Pete Hegseth, have been criticized for their use of the armed forces.
The president ordered the deployment of the National Guard in several Democratic cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, against the advice of local authorities.
In recent weeks, the United States has also carried out about 20 attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific against boats it accuses – without providing evidence – of transporting drugs, causing at least 83 casualties. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, ruled that these operations were indeed the case “strong indications” by “violations of international law” humanitarian and “extrajudicial killings”.
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