White House says Trump is not calling for executions, but wants Democrats to be 'held accountable'

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House on Thursday, November 20, defended President Donald Trump’s accusation that six Democratic lawmakers had engaged in “seditious behavior, punishable by death.” 

They insisted that he was not calling for their execution but responding to what officials had described as a grave breach of military norms.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Democrats, mostly veterans or former national-security officials, had sent a “dangerous” signal to active-duty troops by reportedly reminding them they could refuse illegal orders.

Karoline Leavitt says Democrats sent dangerous message

“You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to active-duty service members and members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders,” Leavitt said from the podium.

“The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command. If that chain is broken, it can lead to chaos, and it can lead to people getting killed,” she added.

The video, shared by Sen Elissa Slotkin, featured Sen Mark Kelly and Reps Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan and Maggie Goodlander.

It reportedly urged members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders” and warned that “threats to our Constitution” could come from within the country. The Democrats did not identify any specific order they believed to be unlawful.

Reporter asks directly whether Trump wants lawmakers executed

CBS News' Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes pressed Leavitt directly and asked, “Does the president want to execute members of Congress?” The press secretary rejected the premise.

“No,” Leavitt replied. “Let’s be clear about what the president is responding to. Many in this room want to talk about the president’s response, but not what brought him to respond in this way.”

She argued that the lawmakers were leveraging their military and intelligence backgrounds to give their warning extra weight.

“Elissa Slotkin is a former CIA officer. Mark Kelly was a captain in the US Navy. Maggie Goodlander was a naval officer and is the wife of President Biden’s former national security adviser. They knew exactly what they were doing,” Leavitt said. 

“They were signaling to people serving under this commander-in-chief that you can defy him and betray your oath of office,” she added.

Cordes countered that the Democrats were referring to illegal orders, not legal ones. Leavitt insisted that Trump had issued no illegal directives. “Every single order given by this commander in chief is lawful, and the courts have proven that,” she said.

“To suggest otherwise to 1.3 million active-duty service members could inspire chaos, incite violence, and disrupt the chain of command.”

Leavitt said that the president believed the lawmakers “should be held accountable,” though she repeatedly added that questions of legality are for the Justice Department and the Department of Defense.

“I’m not a lawyer,” she said. “But encouraging the defiance of lawful orders is very dangerous and perhaps punishable by law.”