After a group of Congressional Democrats, known as the “Seditious Six,” released a video encouraging active-duty service members to disregard what they termed illegal commands, it seems every Democrat is positioning themselves as an expert on military discipline. Sens. Elissa Slotkin from Michigan and Mark Kelly from Arizona, along with Reps. Jason Crow (Colorado), Maggie Goodlander (New Hampshire) , Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan — all of Pennsylvania — have repeatedly urged military personnel to “refuse illegal orders.”
These lawmakers are quick to label potential threats as coming from within the ranks, but they conveniently overlook that the UCMJ’s enforcement is not their responsibility. The military had not issued any orders considered unlawful until these accusations began circulating.
Upon releasing their video, Sen. Kelly perpetually repeated the notion of “illegal orders” without substantiation, while Rep. Crow was pressed four times for specifics and remained unable to provide one example. Similarly, when MS NOW (an independent media platform) pressed Goodlander for clarification on which orders were being ignored, she failed to specify.
The recent focus on the so-called double-tap operations targeting drug runners has also ignited debate among Democrats, who now refer to these individuals as “narco-terrorists.” The administration’s stance is that they traffic drugs from South America via high-speed boats. Numerous videos have been released showing these vessels being sunk.
However, objections arose when it was revealed that certain strikes resulted in civilians’ deaths alongside drug lords. Cries of “war crime” were raised by opponents.
It came to light that a second attack may have taken out survivors from the initial explosion and executed them for allegedly continuing communication or attempting to recover illicit goods. Admiral Mitch Bradley, showing video evidence before Congress, confirmed that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was not involved in issuing this “kill them all” order for the second strike. This contradicts a Newsmax report by Martha Raddatz from the previous day.
Moreover, a source familiar with the incident stated: The two survivors supposedly climbed back into their boat to communicate and attempt salvage operations. Because of that, they were judged still an active threat — thus legally legitimate targets. A JAG officer provided legal guidance during this process.
Still, the video produced by congressional Democrats did not receive prior review from a military lawyer familiar with UCMJ rules before release. This lack of due diligence could have caused unnecessary confusion regarding lawful authority in uniform.
Former Marine Captain Haley Fuller wrote for Military.com that while technically permissible — as it did not violate any specific provision of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) — releasing such material was ill-advised, particularly because they failed to identify which orders were actually illegal.
