Democrat Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania joins veterans protesting the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Photo: Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
This story was originally published by WESA.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio of western Pennsylvania is among a half-dozen Democratic lawmakers charged with sedition by President Donald Trump on Thursday morning, citing a video in which lawmakers urged military and intelligence personnel not to obey unlawful orders.
In social media posts on Thursday morning, Trump claimed that Democrats had committed “HIGHEST LEVEL OF DEFECTIVE CONDUCT,” a crime that he said is “punished by DEATH,” and that every lawmaker “should be arrested and prosecuted. … AN EXAMPLE SHOULD BE SETTED.” Trump also retweeted posts from other accounts, including one calling for the hanging of lawmakers.
“The fact that the president’s response to our statement of a fundamental principle of the Constitution is to threaten us with death tells me everything I need to know about the importance of taking the oath again to the Constitution,” Deluzio told WESA on Thursday afternoon.
At issue is a minute-and-a-half-long video released Wednesday showing Deluzio, a U.S. Navy veteran, joining U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of eastern Pennsylvania and four other Democrats with military experience. They take turns speaking addressed directly to soldiers and intelligence personnel.
“We know you are under tremendous stress and pressure right now,” said Elissa Slotkin, U.S. senator from Michigan.
The Trump administration, Democrats say, is pitting military and intelligence professionals against American citizens. And although Americans trust the military, “that trust is at risk,” Deluzio says in the recording. Service members take an oath to the U.S. Constitution, but Deluzio adds, “right now, threats to our Constitution don’t just come from abroad.[…]You must refuse illegal orders.”
“Don’t give up the ship,” Democrats say together.
The video does not specify which actions they consider a “threat to our Constitution,” although Democrats are concerned about the administration’s willingness to deploy the military in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. Concerns have also been raised over a series of military attacks on boats in international waters that the War Department, formerly the Defense Department, said were involved in drug trafficking.
Deluzio told WESA that “the basic constitutional principle of the oath is that you have an obligation to obey lawful orders and that no service member is ever forced to obey illegal orders.” He said “we’re not pointing to any specific past act, but there are certainly concerns” about what Trump might demand in the future.
“The president himself talked about this using American cities… as training grounds while active-duty soldiers fight against their fellow citizens,” he added. “Therefore, this is an important moment to reaffirm this basic constitutional idea of the oath to the Constitution.”
The United States Code of Military Justice requires soldiers to obey only legal orders: they can be prosecuted for carrying out illegal orders. Conservatives, however, expressed outrage at the recording, arguing that it was an open call for soldiers to defy orders issued by Trump as commander in chief. Trump reinforced that message on Thursday, arguing that the video is “punishable by DEATH!”
“Their words cannot stand,” he added. “We won’t have a country anymore!!!”
Deluzio expressed hope that the reaction to Trump’s statements would be “a turning point away from this dangerous rush towards political violence and authoritarianism.”
“I wish I could say that preparing for the President of the United States of America to call for my death and hanging had never even crossed my mind. [But] now it has happened because apparently that is who he is.”
“I think this is the moment when everyone – Democrat, Republican, whatever – should condemn the president’s calls for political violence against me and others, and I think every elected Republican in Pennsylvania should be asked whether they intend to condemn this call for violence.”
The offices of U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler and U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, both Pennsylvania Republicans, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly’s office said he would not be able to comment on Trump’s remarks Thursday, but noted that he had talked about the film itself on Fox the day before.
In these comments, Kelly expressed her shock at the video. “Every now and then, I have no idea whether it’s Trump Disorder Syndrome or people who really just want to do something else,” he said. “I have deep respect for those who have served, but… most people who have served don’t make an issue of going public in a way to criticize the President of the United States.
“Why would you release something like that?” he added. “What’s the point of telling people you don’t have to follow orders? Really? I’ve never heard that before.”
At the national level, however, some Republicans justified Trump’s remarks by arguing that he was circumscribed to defining a penalty for seditious behavior and that the video crossed a line. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the message “wildly inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”
Democrats reacted more quickly and decisively, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, who himself was the target of an arson attempt earlier this year.
IN own post on social mediasaid: “Not only has the president failed in his responsibilities to lead this country – he is once again actively encouraging political violence, increasing the real risk of threats to our elected leaders and deepening the divisions in our country. The sycophants and enablers with whom the president surrounds himself are quick to condemn such language when it suits their political goals – but in moments like these they remain noiseless
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has rarely publicly challenged Trump, issued this statement own statement on social mediasaying: “I strongly reject this dangerous rhetoric. Do not threaten members of Congress. Republican or Democrat. It is deeply wrong, without exception – ever.”
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Deluzio and other Democrats said in response, he struck a defiant note: “No threat, intimidation or incitement to violence will stop us [our] “sacred duty” to the constitution.”
“What is most telling is that the President believes that re-enacting the law could result in the death penalty,” the statement continued. “This is not about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for murder and political violence. … Fear is contagious, but so is courage.”
