First posted on Instagram
President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed his demand that the six Democratic lawmakers behind a 2025 video urging service members to refuse illegal orders be prosecuted, asking publicly whether the group he calls the "Seditious Six" will "ever be prosecuted" — months after a federal grand jury declined to indict them and prosecutors dropped the case.
White House chief of staff Stephen Miller has called the video an attempt to deliver a "color revolution" and foment insurrection within the armed forces, saying in a Fox News appearance in November 2025 that it was "the CIA playbook for trying to foment insurrection within the military." Miller has also said the lawmakers should be held accountable under the law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice for what he called a seditious conspiracy.
In his post, published on Truth Social at 10:59 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, Trump wrote: "Will the Seditious Six ever be prosecuted? What they did was a great violation to our Country and its Constitution!"
Miller said of the video in that November 2025 appearance: "For what purpose would you EVER deliver this message? It's to deliver a COLOR REVOLUTION. It's the CIA playbook for trying to foment insurrection within the military." He added that the lawmakers were telling troops to "RISE UP and defy your commanders," warning that "that language can get people KILLED," and said: "They should be held ACCOUNTABLE under the law and under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for a seditious conspiracy against the United States of America. This is OPEN AND SHUT."
The video at the centre of the dispute was released on November 18, 2025. In the 90-second clip, posted from Senator Elissa Slotkin's account, six Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds — Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire — spoke directly to active-duty personnel. Its core line was: "Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution." The video was released as Trump authorised strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and weighed deploying active-duty troops to American cities.
Trump responded at the time by calling the video "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH" and writing that "each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL." He also reposted a message calling for the lawmakers to be hanged. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called the video "despicable, reckless, and false" and gave the group the name "the Seditious Six." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said the president did not literally want the lawmakers executed.
Federal investigators contacted the six lawmakers within a week of the video, and the Pentagon opened a command investigation into Kelly, a retired Navy captain who remains subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Hegseth formally censured Kelly and moved to reduce his rank and retirement pay. Kelly sued to block the move, and a federal judge ruled that the Pentagon had "trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms."
On February 10, 2026, a federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict the lawmakers. Prosecutors led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had sought charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2387, which bars interfering with the loyalty, morale or discipline of the armed forces. The New York Times first reported the grand jury's refusal, and CBS News confirmed it. On February 24, 2026, Pirro dropped the investigation.
Legal experts have noted that urging troops to refuse illegal orders restates established military law: Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires service members to follow lawful orders and reject unlawful ones. Fact-checkers have also noted that the video did not meet the legal definition of sedition — the seditious conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2384, requires an agreement to use force to overthrow or oppose U.S. authority — and that members of Congress are protected by the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause for their legislative speech.
The renewed push comes five days after Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate Slotkin and other Democrats over their plans for congressional oversight after winning control of Congress in the midterm elections, a separate order that drew its own criticism.