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California gubernatorial candidate and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell claimed that members of the military are telling him that they can be a “check” on President Donald Trump.
On Don Lemon’s show Monday, Swalwell discussed the controversy surrounding a video of six Democratic lawmakers urging service members to “refuse illegal orders” from Trump.
The Department of War later announced on X that it launched a formal review into allegations of misconduct against Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, for appearing in the video.
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Swalwell argued that the Trump administration “told on” itself by going after Kelly for his call to resist “illegal orders” and revealed that some service members have been behaving as a “check” on the president.
“What gives me hope, and I talk to service members all the time, they tell me that I don’t appreciate enough, and the public doesn’t appreciate enough that while Congress is not a check on the president anymore, and the judiciary at the Supreme Court is hardly a check, military members have told me, ‘We can be a check,'” Swalwell said.
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He continued, “They’re essentially saying, ‘We’re not going to betray our oath to the Constitution because this guy tells us to.’ While it’s not codified that way—they’re not a branch of government on their own—their honor and integrity might just save us.”
Swalwell agreed with Lemon that the Trump administration and, by extension, Republicans are now telling service members to “ignore the Constitution.”
“To me, the only reason you’d go after Mark Kelly if he’s telling soldiers, ‘You don’t have to follow an unlawful order’—and they don’t—is if you intend to carry out unlawful orders,” Swalwell said. “If you don’t intend to carry out unlawful orders, why do you care that somebody would say that?”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of War for comment.
Swalwell’s comments came the same day Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., warned military members on CNN that there would be consequences for them if they went after Kelly.
“Donald Trump is going to be gone in a couple of years,” Gallego said. “And if you’re part of the military that is going after sitting senators, sitting members of Congress, and part of the weaponization of government, there will be consequences, without a doubt.”
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