Secretary of the Navy John Phelan was asked to brief Hegseth on the outcome of the review by Dec. 10.
Hegseth criticized the video as a “politically motivated influence operation” on social media platform X on Tuesday.
“It never named a specific ‘illegal order.’ It created ambiguity rather than clarity. It used carefully scripted, legal-sounding language. It subtly reframed military obedience around partisan distrust instead of established legal processes.”
Kelly’s representatives did not immediately return a request for comment about Tuesday’s military referral.
“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly said in part in the statement.
“I’ve given too much of this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”
The video featured Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Kelly, and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), and Jason Crow (D-Colo.). All of them have served in the military or worked in intelligence in the past.
The elected officials encouraged service members and intelligence personnel to defy orders from the administration that they said were “illegal.” They didn’t name any particular order in the video.
“Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear,” they said.
“You can refuse illegal orders … you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
The lawmakers said they were aware of “enormous stress and pressure” being put on those in the military, and accused the current administration of “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”
As justification for the message, they noted that those in service “swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.”
In Hegseth’s rebuttal of the video, he stated that in the military, “vague rhetoric and ambiguity undermines trust,” and the group was intentionally “sowing doubt through a politically-motivated influence operation,” but that the Department of War “won’t fall for it or stand for it.”
The military “already has clear procedures for handling unlawful orders“ and ”does not need political actors injecting doubt into an already clear chain of command,” Hegseth said.
President Donald Trump has also accused the Congress members of sedition and said punishment for such a crime was “punishable by death” in a social media post.
The Democratic lawmakers have released more social media videos and appeared in several news interviews in response to the investigations this week.
“Integrity has defined my brother’s service to our nation, as a combat veteran, astronaut, and U.S. Senator,” Scott Kelly posted on X. “Any effort to undermine that is an abuse of power.”
Other reactions included former military officers condemning the video.
Buzz Patterson, a career Air Force veteran, combat pilot, and former military aide to former President Bill Clinton, said he was “outraged” at the lawmakers’ actions.
“I fully support going forward with whatever prosecutions are warranted and legitimate and I think they are on these individuals. They used their positions, military and in the intelligence community, to expose and put at risk those of us who serve in uniform.”
“I think that what’s going to happen because they violated the military chain of command, that people are going to die,” he said as part of the statement.
