Arizona Senator Mark Kelly on political violence, unlawful orders, and latest on Ukraine
(CBS, KYMA) - Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about political violence.
According to Brennan, President Donald Trump posted to social media over the weekend calling for the arrest of Democratic lawmakers who urged service members and intelligence officials to disobey orders issued by the Trump Administration.
In the post, President Trump said in part, "It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime."
When asked if he has credible threats, and how concerned he is about his security at this point, Sen. Kelly said:
"What the President said is very serious. I didn't think he would step over that line calling for the execution of members of Congress, and his words carry tremendous weight, more so than anybody else in the country, and he should be aware of that. And because of what he says, there is now an increased threats against us. I'm not going to get into details on my personal security, but as the husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, I understand what political violence is. The president should as well. Just like Gabby, somebody tried to assassinate him, and he should understand that his words...could have serious consequences."
Brennan followed up by saying there was a request for the senator to get a "boost in Capitol Hill security support," prompting her to ask Kelly if the Republicans are on board with it, to which he said:
"I don't know. I've heard them say, you know very little about this. I think you know the President tries to intimidate them. He tries to intimidate Congress. He looks at government accountability as a nuisance. And I think it's really important for people to understand that the message he sent a couple days ago was, he declared that loyalty to the Constitution is now punishable by death. Those are serious words coming from the President of the United States. He's trying to intimidate us, but I'm not going to be intimidated. [Congressman Jason Crow said he is] not going to be intimidated either. We both served our country. We swore an oath. All we said is we reiterated what basically is the rule of law that members of the military should not, cannot follow illegal orders."
During the interview, Brennan and Kelly talked about unlawful orders, with Brennan reporting that a senior judge advocate at SOUTHCOM raised serious doubts about the legality of the strikes on the alleged drug boats, but was said to be contradicted by Executive Branch lawyers.
This led Brennan to ask if Kelly spoke with the SOUTHCOM commander, and if he's hearing that there are unlawful orders being given, and Kelly said:
"We're hearing the same thing that you are. The administration hasn't shared much information with us. I read the legal analysis. It was just like the briefs. They're tying themselves in knots trying to explain why what they're doing with regards to these drug boats is legal and it's questionable at best. One of our biggest allies, the United Kingdom, recently stopped sharing intelligence with us in the Caribbean because they question whether this is legal or not. We've been asking for more briefings from the right people. We have not received them, but the information [shared] is the public information. I don't have much more beyond that."
Later in the interview, Brennan and Kelly talked about the latest on Ukraine, with Brennan reporting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling three prominent U.S. senators that he was unaware of the threat to off U.S. support to Ukraine "if they don't accept this proposed plan that's on the table."
"What he told us was that this was not the American proposal. This was a proposal which was received by someone who has identified and they believe to be representing Russia in this proposal. It was given to Mr. Witkoff," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).
However, Brennan said she received phone calls from senior U.S. officials saying that's not at all what Secretary Rubio said.
When asked what version of events does he believe in terms of what America is putting forward, Kelly said:
"They've got to clear this up. You have Rubio talking to my Senate colleague, saying one thing. The spokesperson for the State Department saying another. Your conversations with the White House contradict what the Secretary of State and, by the way, the National Security Adviser, same guy, has said about this. They've got to figure this out and get the message out and explain to the American people what's going on. I will say this, that's Putin's plan. That is a very good deal for Russia. It is a horrible deal for Ukraine, for our allies and even for our own national security. If Putin gets the chance with that deal to, you know, rearm, rebuild his economy and gain territory, by the way, that's what he wanted. Then, the Baltics, Poland, Romania, all those other countries down the line are at threat."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Kelly, click here.
