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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded after a group of Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video urging service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
“This is abhorrent conduct,” Blanche said Wednesday night on “Hannity.”
“I felt like I was watching a propaganda video by one of our enemies trying to recruit the military to become spies,” Blanche said.
Blanche continued, “When you see what these men and women were saying about this administration, about this president… what is the reason for saying what they said except to encourage members of our military [and] intelligent community to defy a direct command from their superior?”
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In the video titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” six Democratic lawmakers invoke their prior service while telling members of the military and intelligence community that “the threats to our Constitution are coming from right here at home.”
Lawmakers appearing in the video include Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H.; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.
Several recite a version of the line: “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.”
Slotkin and her colleagues have pushed legislation to limit President Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against narco-terrorists without congressional approval, though that context is absent from the video.
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Blanche insisted that the administration’s actions have not been “illegal” and said Democrats involved in the matter should be “held to account.”
“I think that those congressmen should be required to answer questions and to answer questions about why they did what they did. And the American people deserve that. And so does President Trump,” he said.
Multiple right-leaning voices, including Libs of TikTok, Rep. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a former U.S. Navy SEAL, have criticized the video.
Crane called the video “extremely foolish and cowardly” on “The Ingraham Angle,” accusing the Democrats of being unable to provide specific examples of unlawful orders given by the Trump administration.
When reached for comment, Houlahan said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “Some in the administration and media are actively working to distort that message into something dark or divisive.”
“Let me be absolutely clear: there is nothing more patriotic, nothing more stabilizing and nothing more true to the rule of law than reminding our military of their constitutional obligations and reassuring them that, if they are ever given an unlawful order, they do not have to carry it out.”
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“‘Don’t Give Up the Ship’ is not a slogan of rebellion—it is a historic naval motto that has always stood for steadfastness, duty and loyalty to country. That is the backbone of American civil-military tradition,” she added.
Crow, in a statement to “The Ingraham Angle,” said, “The president is putting our service members in a very difficult situation. He’s sending active-duty troops to police U.S. cities and discussing using our military against the enemy within. We’re reminding our service members about what the law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice clearly says, and you have the right and obligation to not carry out illegal orders.”
Regarding specific illegal orders made by the Trump administration, Slotkin’s office told the show, “When Trump asked the [former Secretary of Defense] Mark Esper if he could shoot protesters in the legs.”
The White House, Slotkin, Kelly, Deluzio and Goodlander did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s prior requests for comment.
Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
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