Vice President Vance said Sunday that six Democratic lawmakers violated the law by telling service members to disobey illegal orders.
“If the president hasn’t issued illegal orders, then members of Congress telling the military to defy the president is by definition illegal,” Vance said on the social platform X.
Earlier this week, Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Jason Crow (Colo.) directly addressed active-duty military and intelligence personnel in a video on X, saying, “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”
All six lawmakers have backgrounds in military or intelligence.
President Trump responded by calling the group “traitors” on his Truth Social platform and later said that they were guilty of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
On Saturday evening, the president repeated his sedition assertions and said the lawmakers “SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW.”
Vance was responding to Slotkin telling host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” that she is “not aware” of any illegal military actions authorized by Trump.
Since returning to office in January, the president has deployed or attempted to send the National Guard to Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Memphis; and other cities, citing concerns about crime or protests against immigration enforcement.
The Posse Comitatus Act, however, generally bars the military from being used in civilian law enforcement.
A federal judge ruled in September that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles violated the 1878 law. Another judge ruled earlier this week that the president’s deployment of troops to the nation’s capitol exceeded his authority.
