\n President Donald Trump\u2019s political retribution campaign just took two embarrassing steps back and one giant leap forward.\n <\/p>\n
\n The collapse of criminal cases against former FBI chief James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James raised questions about the Justice Department\u2019s competence after a judge ruled Trump\u2019s handpicked prosecutor<\/a> was illegally appointed amid rushed prosecutions<\/a> under political pressure.\n <\/p>\n \n But the administration didn\u2019t miss a beat after its twin defeat on Monday. The Pentagon swiftly announced a probe into and potential court martial of war hero, NASA astronaut and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly <\/a>over a video in which he and colleagues pointed out that members of the military don\u2019t have to obey illegal orders<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n This followed Trump\u2019s claim last week that Kelly and other Democratic lawmakers in the video, all military or intelligence community veterans, had committed sedition \u2014 inciting an insurrection against the state \u2014 which Trump said was punishable by death<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has made no secret of his determination to use presidential power to prosecute his opponents in revenge for his own criminal indictments \u2014 it was a pillar of his 2024 presidential campaign. But the use of the military to target a political foe crosses a new line and invokes the possibility that the free speech of veterans could be constrained if they criticize the commander in chief.\n <\/p>\n \n It also marks an extension of Trump\u2019s attempt to use government institutions to weaponize justice against his opponents, a process that the Comey and James cases show is already advanced in the DOJ.\n <\/p>\n \n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already dismissed senior military officers<\/a> in an attempt to build a team he believes is loyal to the president and his own ethos of unfettered discretion for \u201cwar fighters.\u201d He has also fired top legal officers<\/a> who raised questions about the legality of administration policies, CNN reported.\n <\/p>\n \n The extraordinary possibility that a decorated retired Navy captain such as Kelly could be called back to duty to be prosecuted under military justice threatens to take the process further.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhat Trump wants to say is, \u2018If I can come after him, I can come after anyone,\u2019\u201d said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Independent Veterans of America.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is crossing the Rubicon,\u201d Rieckhoff told CNN\u2019s John Berman on \u201cAnderson Cooper 360.\u201d \u201cThe idea you can drive (Kelly) back onto active duty and threaten a court martial \u2026 is breaking glass that has never been broken before in the modern military.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Since Kelly was a senior officer who retired from the Navy, he is required by law to remain available for recall to the military. The Pentagon said it could take him back into the service to carry out a court martial or administrative punishment. It was not immediately clear what potential charges might be viable against Kelly, since his alleged offense was to point out a fact \u2014 that military officers are only obligated to follow legal orders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.\n <\/p>\n \n There must be considerable doubt that a case against Kelly would get anywhere near the court martial stage, not least because a conviction would set a precedent that any retired member of the military could be pursued by the government in perpetuity for remarks construed as criticism of the president\u2019s actions.\n <\/p>\n \n The video by Democratic lawmakers has sparked debate over whether they were needlessly dragging the military into political disputes with a campaign-style stunt. But it did not take place in a vacuum. Trump has ordered reservists and US Marines into US cities in deployments that some judges have blocked. And many experts believe that the administration\u2019s strikes<\/a> on the speedboats of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific thwart due process and could infringe US and international law and the Constitution.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s political strategy is clear. With his prosecutions against Comey, James and now investigation into Kelly, he\u2019s using the power of the executive branch to target political opponents. These are acts of a president who takes his political beefs deeply personally and believes, erroneously, that his role comes with unlimited executive power.\n <\/p>\n \n Some Republicans insist his targets are fair game. They argue that some or all of Trump\u2019s criminal indictments<\/a>, including for election interference, a felony conviction<\/a> and civil legal problems<\/a> were examples of Democratic \u201clawfare\u201d and that he\u2019s justified in responding.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s fair to debate whether some of the prosecutions were politically motivated and the strength of the legal theories behind them. But Trump was convicted by a jury of his peers in the New York hush money case, and there was substantial evidence he tried to overthrow the result of the 2020 election. Trump denied wrongdoing in all cases against him.\n <\/p>\n \n And the president\u2019s social media posts reveal the political axe he\u2019s grinding. The Comey and James indictments quickly followed a social media post<\/a>, which may have been intended to be private, to Attorney General Pam Bondi, demanding prosecutions. And news of the Kelly investigation followed days after Trump\u2019s social media outburst against the Democratic lawmakers who made the video.\n <\/p>\n \n Hegseth issued a statement Monday that appeared to be designed to catch the president\u2019s eye with its amped-up language. \u201cThe video made by the \u2018Seditious Six\u2019 was despicable, reckless, and false. Encouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their Commanders undermines every aspect of \u2018good order and discipline.\u2019 Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion \u2014 which only puts our warriors in danger,\u201d he wrote.\n <\/p>\n \n The lawmakers in the video did not directly encourage US military personnel to ignore the orders of their commanders. This argument would only work if the commanders issued an unlawful order. The video pointed out that military members can or must refuse illegal orders or those that violate the Constitution.\n <\/p>\n \n The legality of an order is often a tough call in the heat of combat. That\u2019s why members of the Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps \u2014 military lawyers \u2014 are often attached to units to provide legal counsel to active-duty personnel, sometimes in combat situations. Every member of the military is trained in their legal obligations. Supporters of the Democratic lawmakers in the video argue they were merely stating that everyone in the military has an obligation to obey the law \u2014 hardly a heinous offense.\n <\/p>\n \n Kelly said that if the intent was to intimidate him, \u201cit won\u2019t work.\u201d He added, in a statement on X<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Successful prosecutions of Kelly, Comey or James seem unlikely. But being ensnared by legal wrangles can be traumatic and financially ruinous. \u201cThe process is the punishment,\u201d Miles Taylor<\/a>, a former government homeland security official who is being investigated by the DOJ after criticizing Trump during his first term, told CNN\u2019s Kasie Hunt.\n <\/p>\n \n The White House reacted to its losses in the Comey and James cases as it always does: by doubling down on accusations and vows to appeal, and by implying that any judge who rules against the president is negligent or politicized. \u201cI know the Department of Justice will be appealing this in very short order, so maybe James Comey should pump the brakes on his victory lap,\u201d said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.\n <\/p>\n \n A federal judge dismissed the cases after finding that Trump\u2019s appointment of former White House official Lindsey Halligan as interim US attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, was invalid. The president named Halligan amid a rush to bring the criminal indictments.\n <\/p>\n \n Comey pleaded not guilty to lying to and obstructing Congress during testimony in late 2020. James, who said in her campaign for attorney general that she would investigate Trump over his business dealings, secured a civil court fraud judgement against the president, his adult sons and the Trump Organization in September 2023. She has pleaded not guilty in a mortgage fraud case brought by the administration.\n <\/p>\n \n The legal and constitutional obligations of Monday\u2019s legal drama will take time to play out. But the political reverberations were immediate.\n <\/p>\n \n Kelly, for example, is seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate who appeals to moderates in the party. He has strong credentials as a senator from a border state and because of his military record. He did not waste any time sending out multiple fundraising emails after the news, telling supporters, \u201cThe Department of War is coming after me because they don\u2019t like what I have to say.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker \u2014 other potential Democratic presidential candidates \u2014 Kelly now has a fight with the administration and a platform to show the kind of defiance toward Trump that his party\u2019s voters crave.\n <\/p>\n \n The politics of the showdown may also backfire on the president. After all, a commander in chief who never served in the military is now using his power in pursuit of a hero who flew combat jets off a US carrier over Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War and who showed the right stuff by blasting into space on shuttle missions.\n <\/p>\n \n Kelly implicitly made the contrast in his statement. \u201cWhen I was 22 years old, I commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and swore an oath to the Constitution. I upheld that oath through flight school, multiple deployments on the USS Midway, 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, test pilot school, four space shuttle flights at NASA, and every day since I retired \u2013 which I did after my wife Gabby was shot in the head while serving her constituents,\u201d Kelly said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Arizona senator is married to Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic member of the House who was shot at a political event in 2011 and left with a severe brain injury.\n <\/p>\n \n While Trump has always prospered politically when he\u2019s picked fights and singled out political foes \u2014 at least with his ever-loyal base voters \u2014 he has wider problems than his personal grievances. He\u2019s struggling to show empathy to voters struggling with the high prices of groceries and housing. The White House on Monday postponed an expected announcement on a new health care proposal<\/a> as millions of Americans are seeing spiking premiums<\/a>. Trump\u2019s approval ratings have tumbled, and the surprise resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>, once a fervent supporter, exposed splits in the MAGA movement.\n <\/p>\n \n And as many Republicans anticipate next year\u2019s midterm elections with trepidation as voters demand help, their president is obsessing over ancient personal feuds \u2014 including the one with Comey, which stretches back nearly a decade.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/c-gettyimages-2245726686.jpg?c=original&q=w_860,c_fill\")
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