Karoline Leavitt defends Trump’s Threats to ‘Hang’ Democrats

Washington, D.C. – In one of the most incendiary episodes of Donald Trump’s second term, the president on Tuesday night reposted a Truth Social message screaming “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” and added his own all-caps follow-up: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

The targets were six Democratic veterans in Congress who released a 90-second video reminding U.S. military personnel of their oath is to the Constitution, not the president, and that they must refuse manifestly unlawful orders.

The six lawmakers — Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Pat Ryan (D-NY), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) — posted the video on November 18, via their joint veterans’ account @VetVoicePAC. All six appeared in uniform and spoke directly to camera:

“We served this country in uniform. We took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. As veterans, we know what it means to follow lawful orders — and to refuse unlawful ones.”

Rep. Jason Crow said the same day: “We made this video out of concern for potential future illegal orders by Trump. The military cannot be turned into a political weapon.”

Within hours, Trump erupted on Truth Social:

“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET. President DJT.”

He then boosted a supporter’s post screaming “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

Leavitt’s Full Defense in Thursday Briefing

At Thursday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28, refused to condemn the death threats and instead framing them as a reasonable reaction to Democratic “insurrection against the chain of command.”

“Let’s be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president’s response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way,” Leavitt began.

“You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders. The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command.”

She continued: “The video teaches service members that you can defy [Trump] and you can betray your oath of office. That is a very dangerous message, and it, perhaps, is punishable by law. I’m not a lawyer — I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and Department of War to decide.”

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Legal reminder: under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and decades of Supreme Court precedent (most notably United States v. Calley, 1954, and the Nuremberg principles incorporated into U.S. military law), service members not only may but must disobey “manifestly unlawful orders,” including orders to commit war crimes, violate the Constitution, or target American citizens.

Bipartisan Backlash — Even From Trump Allies

Even some Republicans recoiled. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), appearing outside the Capitol on November 19, said “I’m against hanging other senators, I know that’s outlandish. You can ask me again next week, but I think hanging senators might be overkill.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) posted on X: “Threatening to execute members of Congress for reminding troops of their constitutional duty is not normal. Period.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the posts “stochastic terrorism” and demanded the Secret Service investigate. House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to comment, saying only that “the president is passionate about military readiness.”

The execution threats landed the same week Congress forced Trump to accept the full release of Jeffrey Epstein files (House 427–1, Senate unanimous consent, November 18). Trump had fought the bill for months, calling it a “Democrat hoax,” before abruptly endorsing it November 16 after Rep. Thomas Massie predicted 100+ Republican votes.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a “sedition review” of the six Democrats on November 19, citing “possible violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2384 (seditious conspiracy).”

Legal experts called the move unprecedented, noting the statute has never been used against members of Congress for public speech.

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The Pentagon issued a rare statement Wednesday: “The Department of Defense trains all service members on their obligation to disobey manifestly illegal orders. This is standard, nonpartisan doctrine.”

Military Times reported Thursday that enlistment applications dropped 18% year-over-year in October–November 2025, the steepest decline since 2007.

For now, the six Democratic veterans remain defiant. Rep. Moulton told MSNBC Thursday night: “If reminding troops to follow the Constitution is sedition, then lock me up. I’ll wear the orange jumpsuit proudly.”