ICYMI: Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth Investigate Members of Congress for Exact Same Comments They Once Made
After six Democratic representatives reiterated a long-established law from the Uniform Code of Military Justice – the military must not obey unlawful orders – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Bondi ordered investigations into those elected officials, claiming the video represented “seditious behavior.”
However, both Bondi and Hegseth made the exact same statements they now denounce. As Bondi and Hegseth investigate these elected officials, their previous comments highlight how the current Administration is using the levers of government to investigate and punish the President’s political opponents.
On multiple occasions, former Fox News contributor turned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that the military should not follow unlawful orders. In 2016, Hegseth said:
“You’re not just gonna follow that order if it’s unlawful,”
“The military’s not gonna follow illegal orders,”
“(the military) won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief,”
Hegseth even criticized then-candidate Trump’s response that the military would not refuse his orders, saying:
“Here’s the problem with Trump, he says, ‘Go ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than waterboarding.’ What happens when people follow those orders, or don’t follow them? It’s not clear that Donald Trump will have their back.”
Hegseth has become entirely subservient to the President’s whims and is using his position at the Pentagon to go after Trump’s political enemies for saying the very statements he used to believe in.
And it’s not just Hegseth. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also referenced the same military law in a brief before the Supreme Court. Last year, Bondi wrote:
“Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders,”
“The military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill nonmilitary targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.”
Bondi and Hegseth regard the principle of declining illegal orders as clearly established military law only when it serves their interests. Their previous comments reveal just how little merit the investigations into the Democratic lawmakers have - and how far they are willing to go to silence the President’s critics.
