(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of the death penalty for a group of Democratic Congress members who called upon the military and intelligence community to refuse illegal orders.
He also suggested he would be in favour of imprisoning the Democrats for their statement.
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump wrote on Thursday, as part of a series of posts on his platform Truth Social.
A follow-up message, published about 40 minutes later, contained only five words: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
The Democratic Party quickly denounced the Republican leader’s remarks as “absolutely vile”.
Trump’s threat came in response to a video published on November 18, containing clips of six Democratic senators and representatives, all of them veterans of the US military or its intelligence services.
In the video, the Congress members remind their colleagues in the armed forces and intelligence community of their duty to refuse “illegal orders”.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now,” the Congress members said. “Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk.”
The Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it illegal for service members to willfully disobey the orders of a superior officer.
But such orders are only lawful if they do not run “contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States or lawful superior orders.” An order that is “beyond the authority of the official issuing it” is also considered unlawful.
