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Sen Mark Kelly digs in against Trump administration, tells Kimmel, 'I'm not backing down'

Sen. Mark Kelly doubled down in his defense of his encouragement of service members to reject ‘illegal orders’ as he faces a formal review into allegations of misconduct, telling Jimmy Kimmel, 'I'm not backing down.'

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Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a new interview he isn’t losing sleep over the Trump administration’s threat to investigate or even court-martial him. The warning comes after Kelly and several other Democratic lawmakers posted a video urging service members not to follow "illegal" orders.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kelly addressed the threats from President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and compared his upbringing to the HBO mafia drama "The Sopranos."

"I grew up in the town that the fictional Tony Soprano grew up in," said Kelly, who was raised in northern New Jersey.

MARK KELLY PRESSED ON WHETHER HE WOULD REFUSE ORDERS IF HE WAS STILL IN UNIFORM

Sen. Mark Kelly in the Dirksen Senate Office Building March 27 in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"When you grow up around mobsters, it makes you resilient to this?s---."

The lawmakers’ video, posted to X by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., racked up millions of views and caught the attention of the White House. The Department of War has opened a probe into Kelly over the post. Officials say the retired Navy captain could face military prosecution if investigators find he broke the law.

MARK KELLY FIRES BACK AT TRUMP OVER MILITARY COMMENTS, SAYS, ‘I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED’

Trump also weighed in on X, calling the video "seditious behavior" and noting that it was "punishable by death" in the past.

"He is not intimidating me, and he’s not going to," Kelly said of Trump and Hegseth, adding that he’s faced "harder things than this."

He also described Trump as a "wannabe authoritarian" and warned that troops could face pressure to follow unlawful orders.

"They’re going to be under tremendous pressure to do something they will later regret, that they might find was not lawful," Kelly told Vanity Fair.

RETIRED GENERAL BLASTS DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS' 'IRRESPONSIBLE' VIDEO URGING TROOPS TO REFUSE 'ILLEGAL' ORDERS

In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said, "Mark Kelly’s seriously inappropriate comments, where he told over 1.3 million active duty servicemembers to defy lawful orders from their Commander-in-Chief, injected ambiguity into a clear chain of command and put military men and women further in harm’s way."?

"It’s repulsive that Kelly is doubling down on his remarks that sow chaos and create more danger on the battlefield, which is why the Department of War is rightfully looking into potential violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice," she added.

Sen. Mark Kelly talks with reporters in the Senate subway as Congress continued legislative work during the final weeks of the session. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Republicans argue the video risks undermining the military chain of command. Democrats say the lawmakers were simply reminding service members not to carry out "illegal" orders. Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee have expressed their concerns with the review of Kelly’s conduct, urging the Navy secretary to drop it.

The video did not cite specific examples of orders to refuse, though several of the lawmakers involved have criticized Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in U.S. cities and his administration’s strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela.

Kelly was first elected in 2020 to the U.S. Senate in Arizona, filling the seat once held by John McCain. Kelly then won a full term in 2022.

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