Mark Kelly pledges to fight Hegseth’s attempt to demote him as he slams the Trump admin as ‘petty’

Senator Mark Kelly has said that he is not “backing down” after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced plans to demote his military rank so he could slash the congressman’s retirement pay.

Hegseth’s actions came after Kelly and five other senators released a video telling servicemembers that they can refuse “illegal orders.” The video was released in response to the administration’s bombing of alleged drug boats that originated in Venezuela.

Kelly appeared on The Daily Show shortly after he was stripped of his retirement pay, which he was entitled to after serving in the U.S. Navy for over 20 years.

“They’re trying to intimidate all of us,” he told show host Jon Stewart. “Don’t say something they don’t like, especially for members of the military, retired members like me. Keep your mouth shut or they’re coming after you.”

“I’m not backing down from these guys,” he added.

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Stewart told the veteran and senator that the Trump administration’s actions signalled a sense of “fragility.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen strength portrayed in this manner,” Stewart said. “This smacks of weakness and fear. When people have the power and the respect, they don’t need to be petty. This is petty.”

“It is a reflection of the person at the top,” Kelly responded.

Kelly went on to compare Donald Trump to Kim Jong Un and Josef Stalin for slapping his name on some of the country’s most treasured monuments and landmarks. That was shortly after he slammed the president for “avoiding the draft five times.”

The senator also addressed his controversial video, which he filmed alongside Senator Elissa Slotkin, as well as Representatives Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Googlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.

In the footage, it is Kelly who says, “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”

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"Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution,” Kelly continues. “Right now, the threats coming to our constitution aren't just coming from abroad but from right here at home."

When Stewart asked Kelly about whether he would change anything about the viral video, the senator joked, “The only thing I would change is what you said earlier: better music.”

He defended his video by pointing to Trump’s 2015 claim that the U.S. Military should be “killing the family members of terrorists,” which is an illegal action.

At the time, Trump said he believed the military had to “take out their families” because terrorists “care” about them, according to CNN.

“That means women and children. Murdering children,” Kelly said. “He also talked about shooting US citizens in the legs. He has recently talked about sending US troops into cities for the military to train.”

In a statement on X, Hegseth said that Kelly’s decision to appear in the video led him to strip the veteran of his Navy pension. The furious secretary also slapped Kelly with a letter of censure, claiming it would go on the senator’s “official and permanent military personnel file.”

“Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth seethed. “As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice.”

However, Senator Kelly doubled down on his position while appearing on The Daily Show, after Stewart asked whether he had placed too much of a burden on individual service people in the video.

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“This is a question of: what would a reasonable person think under these circumstances? It’s not nuanced,” he said. “It’s not nuanced, it’s not complicated.

“If a reasonable person would think that this thing that they are asking me to do is illegal, you have an obligation, it’s not an option, you have an obligation to follow those orders,” he added.

He also branded Hegseth’s strikes on the alleged Venezuelan drug boats as “questionable at best.”

Hegseth is currently battling accusations of committing a war crime, after reports suggested that he had instructed service personnel to “kill everybody” on board the vessels.

One strike saw a boat being bombed, before a second missile strike was launched to murder the survivors clinging to the vessel’s wreckage in a move known as a “double tap” strike.

Kelly also blasted “weak members of Congress” for failing to challenge Trump and called on voters to turn out in the 2026 midterm elections to reduce the GOP’s hold on Congress.

“You know what I just realised, maybe the better strategy would be: Don’t be a senator to speak out,” Stewart quipped as he wrapped up the interview, delivering one final jab at Trump. “If you really want freedom in this country, be the CEO of an oil company or run an AI company because they apparently have carte blanche to do whatever they want to do.”