{"id":14515,"date":"2026-01-11T20:08:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14515"},"modified":"2026-01-11T20:08:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:08:59","slug":"hegseths-fight-against-kelly-moves-into-untested-legal-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14515","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth\u2019s fight against Kelly moves into untested legal waters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is forgoing a promised court-martialing and taking a behind-closed-doors track to attempt to punish Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrative move \u2014 which seeks to reduce Kelly\u2019s retirement rank and military pension \u2014 is the latest in the bitter back-and-forth between the Trump administration and the retired Navy captain after he joined five other Democratic lawmakers in a November video reminding service members that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Hegseth is taking Kelly into uncharted legal waters, using an action typically meant to scrutinize service members\u2019 active-duty conduct, a Pentagon packed with President Trump loyalists could unfairly tip the scales against the Arizona Democrat, according to military law experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bottom line is, this is not lawful,\u201d Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and former judge advocate, said of Hegseth\u2019s bid to reduce Kelly\u2019s rank under the military code. \u201cIt\u2019s just never been done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth on Monday issued a letter of censure to Kelly, claiming the senator\u2019s actions were prejudicial to good order and discipline. The letter kicks off the proceedings against Kelly, with Navy Secretary John Phelan to make a recommendation to Hegseth within 45 days as to whether a reduction in retired grade is warranted. Hegseth will then decide if he will reduce Kelly\u2019s grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth is basing the proceedings under 10 U.S. Code \u00a7 1370(f), which determines when a reduction in retirement grade is allowed. Under such law, Phelan is solely responsible for the grade reduction recommendation, with no board involved, according to Todd Huntley, a retired Navy captain and former judge advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That gives the relatively new Navy secretary, a Trump loyalist, an oversized influence on how the saga may play out. The founder of the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC, Phelan was a major contributor to Trump\u2019s presidential campaign in 2024, giving more than $800,000 to the then-candidate\u2019s joint fundraising committee in April that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With no prior experience with the military, Phelan, when confirmed in March, became only the seventh nonveteran to serve as Navy secretary in the past 70 years, and the first in more than 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also has sought to stack the Navy with other loyalists. Only a few months into the role, Phelan in July replaced three civil servants in favor of three acting political appointees for Navy assistant secretary roles: chief for energy, installations and environment; chief for manpower and reserve affairs; and general counsel, as reported by Politico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huntley, who now runs the national security law program at Georgetown University Law Center, said in Kelly\u2019s case, where his retirement has been final for years, a determination can only be reopened if Phelan determines that \u201cgood cause\u201d exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are only four conditions under subsection f of the statute that allow for a retirement grade determination to be opened: if a retirement was procured by fraud; if a mistake in calculation happened when determining retirement grade; if substantial evidence comes to light after retirement that would have affected a determination; and if the service secretary finds \u201cgood cause\u201d exists to reopen the determination of retired grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VanLandingham said the long-held understanding of this provision is that the \u201cgood cause\u201d condition must be read consistently with the entire statute and all the provisions that refer to conduct on active duty only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unethical for any lawyer to claim otherwise, and a gross abuse of power for Hegseth to threaten this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, while Kelly is a retiree and therefore has some limitations on free speech, there has to be a direct connection between what the lawmaker said and a proven effect on military operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is about intimidation,\u201d VanLandingham told The Hill. \u201cThe reason they\u2019re going the administrative route is because they have so much power to get the result that they want, which is exactly what they\u2019re doing. It makes a mockery of the procedures and the rules and due process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his censure letter, Hegseth asserts that statements Kelly made in the Nov. 18 video, as well as in additional follow-up videos and statements, undermined the chain of command, encouraged disobedience, created confusion about duty, discredited the military and amounted to conduct unbecoming of an officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly, who appeared in the video with five other Democratic lawmakers who formerly served in the military or the intelligence community, addressed service members directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur laws are clear,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can refuse illegal orders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video drew President Trump\u2019s ire, and he immediately suggested the six lawmakers be executed for their \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week later, Hegseth announced his department was investigating Kelly for \u201cserious allegations of misconduct.\u201d The two have since traded barbs back and forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s announced administrative action is \u201cbased on Captain Kelly\u2019s public statements from June through December 2025 in which he characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders,\u201d Hegseth wrote in a post to the social platform X announcing his move. \u201cThis conduct was seditious in nature and violated Articles 133 [conduct unbecoming an officer] and 134 [good order and discipline] of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Captain Kelly remains subject as a retired officer receiving pay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly, meanwhile, has staunchly defended his statements, and this week he said he will fight against any effort to demote him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired service member that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn\u2019t like, they will come after them the same way,\u201d Kelly said in a Monday statement. \u201cIt\u2019s outrageous, and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth\u2019s move is notably not the court-martial he initially threatened Kelly with, an unprecedented warning as retired officers are usually recalled for crimes committed while serving on active duty. A court-martial also requires a significant burden of proof and evidence standards that administrative actions do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about his decision to not court-martial Kelly, Hegseth dodged the question, saying that officials \u201cwent through the regular process\u201d and that reducing rank or pay \u201cis a serious administrative action that sends real signals that we take these things incredibly seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWatching the, I don\u2019t know, hissy fit that [Kelly\u2019s] been throwing ever since, shows us just how over the target we are,\u201d Hegseth said Wednesday on \u201cThe Charlie Kirk Show.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody should minimize how significant this is. We don\u2019t do it without understanding that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly retired from the Navy in 2011 as a captain after 25 years of service that included combat missions and missions to outer space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Monday, Kelly has 30 days to submit a response to the Pentagon\u2019s proceedings. He also has floated filing a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will do everything that\u2019s appropriate in this circumstance to make sure they know that this is unacceptable, that they cannot do this to people,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is forgoing a promised court-martialing and taking a behind-closed-doors track to attempt to punish Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). The administrative move \u2014 which seeks to reduce Kelly\u2019s retirement rank and military pension \u2014 is the latest in the bitter back-and-forth between the Trump administration and the retired Navy captain after he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2914,2824,1724],"class_list":["post-14515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-hegseth","tag-kelly","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nHegseth\u2019s fight against Kelly moves into untested legal waters - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hegseth\u2019s fight against Kelly moves into untested legal waters - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is forgoing a promised court-martialing and taking a behind-closed-doors track to attempt to punish Sen. 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