Mark Kelly is not taking his punishment mendacity down.
Kelly — a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot and NASA astronaut who at present serves as a U.S. Senator (D-Ariz.) — introduced in the present day (Jan. 12) that he is suing the Pentagon and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth over their plan to censure him for statements he made in a video late final yr.
“Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to hold him— and this or any administration — accountable,” Kelly said in an X post today. “His unconstitutional campaign in opposition to me sends a chilling message to each retired member of the navy: in case you communicate out and say one thing that the President or Secretary of Protection doesn’t like, you may be censured, threatened with demotion, and even prosecuted.”
Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned by way of my twenty-five years of navy service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to carry him—and this or any administration—accountable. His unconstitutional…January 12, 2026
Mark Kelly is a former captain within the U.S. Navy who flew 39 fight missions in Operation Desert Storm. In late November, he and 5 different Congressmen with navy or intelligence backgrounds put collectively a 90-second video reminding U.S. servicemembers to not obey unlawful orders.
President Donald Trump rapidly condemned the video as seditious, and the Pentagon introduced that it was investigating Kelly for potential misconduct.
Final week, Hegseth reported that the Division of Protection is taking “administrative motion” in opposition to the previous area shuttle astronaut.
“The division has initiated retirement grade willpower proceedings below 10 U.S.C. § 1370(f), with discount in his retired grade leading to a corresponding discount in retired pay,” Hegseth wrote via X on Jan. 5. “To make sure this motion, the Secretary of Battle has additionally issued a proper Letter of Censure, which outlines the totality of Captain (for now) Kelly’s reckless misconduct. This Censure is a essential course of step, and might be positioned in Captain Kelly’s official and everlasting navy personnel file.”
(In September, President Trump issued an govt order rebranding the Division of Protection because the Division of Battle, however the former remains its official name.)
Kelly has defended himself in opposition to such accusations and actions at each step, and his newly filed lawsuit takes the battle to a brand new stage.
“Each servicemember is aware of navy rank is earned, not given. It is earned by way of the dangers you’re taking, the sacrifices you and your loved ones make, the management you show, and the respect you earn from the superiors who advocate you for promotion,” Kelly wrote in in the present day’s X publish.
“Now, Pete Hegseth desires our longest-serving navy veterans to stay with the fixed menace that they could possibly be disadvantaged of their rank and pay years and even many years after they go away the navy simply because he or one other Secretary of Protection would not like what they’ve mentioned. That is not the way in which issues work in the US of America, and I will not stand for it,” he added.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the present day in Washington, D.C., argues that the censure letter, retirement grade willpower course of and associated actions are “illegal and unconstitutional” for a wide range of causes.
“The First Modification forbids the federal government and its officers from punishing disfavored expression or retaliating in opposition to protected speech. That prohibition applies with specific drive to legislators talking on issues of public coverage,” it reads. “The Secretary’s letter makes clear on its face that he’s disciplining Senator Kelly solely for the content material and viewpoint of his political speech.”
