{"id":172593,"date":"2025-11-21T02:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T02:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-targeted-in-trumps-death-threat-disappointed-over-gop-reaction-live-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T02:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T02:13:07","slug":"democrats-targeted-in-trumps-death-threat-disappointed-over-gop-reaction-live-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-targeted-in-trumps-death-threat-disappointed-over-gop-reaction-live-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats targeted in Trump\u2019s death threat disappointed over GOP reaction: Live &#8211; The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.<br \/><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-0 bbjlNt\">Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-1 SkKtY\">Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><br \/>Swipe for next article<br \/>Democrat lawmakers told the military to refuse illegal orders in a video released Tuesday<br \/>From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<br \/>At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<br \/>The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<br \/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/topic\/democrats\">Democratic<\/a> lawmakers targeted in President <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-arrest-democrats-troops-illegal-orders-b2869176.html\">Donald Trump\u2019s death penalty threat<\/a> said that they were disappointed over the reaction from their <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/topic\/republican\">Republican <\/a>colleagues. <br \/>&#8220;Those who are in leadership positions and have taken the oath to tell the truth and to defend our Constitution, who are failing to speak up are not fulfilling their oaths,\u201d Jason Crow (D-Colo.) told <em>The Independent<\/em>\u2019s Eric Garcia Thursday.<br \/>Earlier Thursday, Trump lashed out at the group of military or intelligence community veterans that, in a recent video, called for service members to uphold their oaths to the Constitution and \u201crefuse illegal orders.\u201d <br \/>The president accused them of having engaged in \u201cseditious behavior at the highest level.\u201d He called them \u201ctraitors to our country\u201d who should be \u201carrested and put on trial.\u201d<br \/>In a follow-up post, the president appeared to suggest they should receive the death penalty, writing, \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d<br \/>House Speaker <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/mike-johnson-trump-treason-execution-b2869345.html\">Mike Johnson criticized the video<\/a> on Thursday, describing it to Garcia as \u201cwildly inappropriate.\u201d <br \/>During a press briefing later in the day, White House Press Secretary <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-death-threats-congress-military-b2869430.html\">Karoline Leavitt echoed this sentiment<\/a>, claiming the Democrats\u2019 message \u201ccould inspire chaos.\u201d<br \/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/larry-ellison\">Larry Ellison<\/a>, the largest shareholder of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/paramount\">Paramount<\/a>, reportedly had discussions with the Trump administration about firing CNN hosts the president doesn&#8217;t like, according to sources close to the matter.<br \/>The CNN hosts include Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, the sources told <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/nov\/20\/warner-bros-discovery-takeover-paramount-skydance-larry-ellison\"><em>The Guardian<\/em><\/a>.<br \/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/paramount-trump-side-deal-cbs-settlement-b2804021.html\">Paramount<\/a> has positioned itself as a potential buyer of Warner Bros Discovery. The sources said part of Paramount&#8217;s interest lies in the idea that <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/news\/business\/larry-ellison-tiktok-oracle-elon-musk-trump-b2831220.html\">Ellison&#8217;s closeness to Trump<\/a> would help the deal pass a regulatory review.<br \/><em>Read on&#8230;<\/em><br \/>Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers who called for the military to disobey illegal orders of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<br \/>House Speaker Mike Johnson described the lawmakers\u2019 comments to <em>The Independent<\/em>\u2019s Eric Garcia as \u201cwildly inappropriate.\u201d <br \/>Reacting to Trump\u2019s response, Johnson said: \u201cWhat I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,\u201d adding, \u201cBut obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that.\u201d<br \/>\u201cWhat&#8217;s extraordinary to me is that Mike Johnson doesn\u2019t have the decency to distance himself from Donald Trump&#8217;s death threats leveled at patriotic members of Congress,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.<br \/>After Jeffries\u2019 comments, ABC News\u2019 Rachel Scott reported Johnson as saying, \u201cThe words that the President chose are not the ones that I would use. Okay, obviously, I don&#8217;t think that this is &#8211; these are crimes punishable by death or any of that.\u201d<br \/>A federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/judge\">judge<\/a> has ordered the Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/administration\">administration<\/a> to end a monthslong deployment of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/national-guard\">National Guard<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/troops\">troops<\/a> in the nation\u2019s capital.<br \/>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s military takeover in Washington, D.C., illegally intrudes on local officials\u2019 authority to direct <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/law-enforcement\">law enforcement<\/a> in the district, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded.<br \/>However, she put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal.<br \/>District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor\u2019s consent while the lawsuit plays out.<br \/>Cobb found that while the president does have authority to protect federal functioning and property, he can&#8217;t unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he sees fit or call in troops from other states.<br \/><em>Read on&#8230;<\/em><br \/>Democrats whom President Donald Trump said had committed &#8220;SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR&#8221; that was &#8220;punishable by DEATH&#8221; said they were furious that their Republican colleagues did not defend them.<br \/>On Tuesday, Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.) and Chris DeLuzio (D-Penn.), as well as Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) posted a video telling U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/tv\/news\/trump-arrest-democrats-elissa-slotkin-b2869263.html\">servicemembers that they can refuse illegal orders<\/a>.<br \/>That sent Trump into a rage, and he said they could be executed.<br \/>&#8220;I never expected that just simply and clearly stating what Federal law says, would ask the president to threaten violence against me, that that&#8217;s a situation we&#8217;re in,&#8221; Goodlander told <em>The Independent<\/em>.<br \/>Many were informed by others, such as their staff or other colleagues.<br \/>&#8220;I was in a meeting with other colleagues who are more online than I am,&#8221; Goodlander said.<br \/>Houlahan said she was not afraid after the remarks from the president.<br \/>&#8220;It&#8217;s astounding that we live in a time when the President of the United States can openly threaten the lives of six members of Congress,&#8221; Houlahan told <em>The Independent<\/em>.<br \/>But many of them criticized the fact that almost no Republicans defended them. In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson told <em>The Independent<\/em> that &#8220;that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.&#8221; Other Republican senators mostly said that they had not seen the posts from the president despite the fact he made multiple ones.<br \/>All of them, save for Kelly, showed up to vote in the House and Senate on Thursday.<br \/>Crow, a Democrat and former Army Ranger who tried to protect his colleagues after the Jan. 6 riot, criticized Johnson.<br \/>&#8220;Every time somebody lies or mischaracterizes what people say or don&#8217;t say, it further aggravates what is already a very tough situation. Right now, our country needs leadership,&#8221; Crow told <em>The Independent<\/em>. &#8220;Those who are in leadership positions and have taken the oath to tell the truth and to defend our Constitution, who are failing to speak up, are not fulfilling their oaths.&#8221;<br \/>The move comes as Trump has continued to use the military for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/trump-venezuela-strikes-maduro-drugs-b2866621.html\">extrajudicial killings of people on boats coming from Venezuela<\/a>. The president also deployed troops and the National Guard to cities like Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago. But so far, Republicans have remained silent.<br \/>Houlahan compared the situation to the fact that many Democrats joined on a resolution denouncing political violence after the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.<br \/>&#8220;And yet, here we are now, just weeks later, really, and my Republican colleagues can&#8217;t find the heart and the gut and the morality to identify that it&#8217;s not okay for the leader of the free world to threaten to murder members of Congress,&#8221; she said.<br \/>&#8220;I think fear is contagious and courageous too, and I don&#8217;t bow to threats,&#8221; Goodlander said. &#8220;And I&#8217;m here to do a job.&#8221;<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> ally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/steve-bannon\">Steve Bannon<\/a> has urged the president to \u201cbang some heads\u201d and come up with a game plan for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-feud-congress-epstein-b2869375.html\">Republicans<\/a> amid dismal recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/polling\">polling<\/a>.<br \/>&#8220;Let&#8217;s run the table [with] a simple plan, aggressively executed,&#8221; Bannon, the host of <em>War Room<\/em> and Trump\u2019s chief strategist during his first term, told <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/11\/20\/republicans-trump-maga-2026-recent-polls\">Axios<\/a>. &#8220;The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-death-threats-congress-military-b2869430.html\">President<\/a> may have to bang some heads. [His] entire plan has an objective of GROWTH, JOBS, HIGHER WAGES \u2014 now execute.&#8221;<br \/>Just weeks after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/blue-wave\">blue wave<\/a> swept elections across the country, a series of recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/polls\">polls<\/a> this week suggest Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/approval-rating\">approval rating<\/a> is slipping as the administration copes with the fallout from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/epstein-client-files-list-names-trump-emails-b2867652.html\">Epstein files <\/a>and a turbulent economy.<br \/>After months of resistance to making the government files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein public, Trump on Wednesday signed the bill to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-signs-epstein-files-bill-b2868737.html\"> release the highly anticipated records<\/a>. The president, who campaigned on affordability, has also faced concerns over the economy; while the U.S. added<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/economy-september-jobs-report-government-shutdown-b2869118.html\"> 119,000 jobs<\/a> in September, unemployment reached 4.4 percent and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/american-grocery-prices-cause-stress-b2802224.html\"> grocery prices remain high<\/a>.<br \/><em>Read on&#8230;<\/em><br \/>Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and former Navy captain, has reacted to President Donald Trump\u2019s threats of execution after he and other Democratic lawmakers released a video telling the military to refuse illegal orders.<br \/>\u201cI\u2019ve had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit \u2014 all for my country. I never thought I&#8217;d see a President call for my execution,\u201d Kelly wrote on Thursday. \u201cTrump doesn\u2019t understand the Constitution, and we&#8217;re all less safe for it.\u201d<br \/>Trump had accused the Democrats of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<br \/>Sure, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-maga-b2866117.html\">Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-epstein-files-live-updates-b2867921.html\">on the outs with Donald Trump<\/a> after spearheading the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-bondi-epstein-files-release-b2869127.html\">Republican revolt over the Epstein files<\/a> in the House and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/marjorie-taylor-greene-democrats-obamacare-b2841272.html\">laying into Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> for the GOP\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/congress-health-care-trump-obamacare-b2868684.html\">continued failure to present a vision for reforming the American health care system.<\/a><br \/>But Donald Trump is also famously a man who understands the value of making peace with conservatives, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-death-threats-b2866941.html\">rather than war,<\/a> when it serves his purposes.<br \/>Take Greene\u2019s fellow Republican on the discharge petition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/nancy-mace-friends-parties-newsmax-b2868197.html\">Rep. Nancy Mace,<\/a> as an example. Trump famously endorsed against her as recently as 2022, backing a Republican state representative in a failed primary bid to unseat the one-term congresswoman. But Mace, despite her thin resume on the Hill, won re-election easily \u2014 and Trump, ever eager to back the winning horse, let her back into the fold.<br \/>Perhaps the most famous member of Trumpworld to be banished <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-musk-feud-timeline-twitter-truth-social-b2780187.html\">was Elon Musk,<\/a> the Tesla CEO and former DOGE chief whose roughshod run of the White House in January-April of this year rankled members of Trump\u2019s Cabinet and quickly led to the downfall of Musk\u2019s political crusade as he became a political anchor around the necks of Republicans.<br \/><em>Read on&#8230;<\/em><br \/>Representative Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, has said that the \u201crhetoric needs to be brought down stat\u201d after Donald Trump accused Democrats of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which the president said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<br \/>The lawmakers had posted a video calling for the military to refuse illegal orders.<br \/>\u201cMembers of Congress should not be calling for active duty troops to defy orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief by trying to imply they have been given illegal orders and not being able to cite one,\u201d Lawler wrote on X Thursday. <br \/>He continued: \u201cThe President should not imply that Members of Congress should face death, no matter how ill-advised their comments are.\u201d<br \/>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/white-house\">White House<\/a> on Thursday defended President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-arrest-democrats-troops-illegal-orders-b2869176.html\">call for a group of Democratic legislators to be put to death <\/a>by hanging after they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/mike-johnson-trump-treason-execution-b2869345.html\">teamed up for a social media video <\/a>urging service members to \u201crefuse\u201d what they deemed to be \u201cillegal orders.\u201d<br \/>Asked about the matter in her briefing, Press Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/karoline-leavitt\">Karoline Leavitt<\/a> accused the senators and Congress members of delivering a \u201cradical message\u201d that could \u201cdisrupt the chain of command.\u201d But she did not try to clarify or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-epstein-live-emails-taylor-greene-maga-bondi-republicans-b2865858.html\">tamp down the president\u2019s inflammatory call<\/a> for a violent end.<br \/>Earlier in the day, Trump took to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/truth-social\">Truth Social<\/a> to accuse senators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/elissa-slotkin\">Elissa Slotkin<\/a> of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, plus Colorado Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/jason-crow\">Jason Crow<\/a>, New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania\u2019s Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-epstein-files-live-updates-b2867921.html\">engaging in what he described as \u201cseditious behavior\u201d<\/a> by participating in the video, calling them \u201ctraitors to our country\u201d who should be \u201carrested and put on trial.\u201d<br \/>He later posted a message in which he repeated his all-caps accusation of \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR\u201d from the lawmakers before claiming that such \u201cbehavior\u201d is \u201cpunishable by DEATH,\u201d along with a repost of another Truth Social user who encouraged him to \u201cHANG THEM.\u201d<br \/><em>Read on&#8230;<\/em><br \/>Earlier Thursday, Trump accused Slotkin and other Democratic lawmakers who called for the military to disobey illegal orders of \u201cseditious behavior,\u201d which he said was \u201cpunishable by death.\u201d<br \/>Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies<br \/><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-0 bbjlNt\">Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-1 SkKtY\">Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiwAFBVV95cUxONEZhcmphVlBVZ3p5VDRjeG1JM2xsNWRJNjhyZmpRdDl3dXNWQjBwVnQ1TzJWelNPWHZjSUtHalFEX1J2UlhoNFJWdGdYSXphWDE4N0VPbGxMODVWT2JEUG5xZlJISGItS202b0xQNWJ0Z1Q1bFNwZXZoMEFFX2Y2M2Q1VFNyVDhTeDlfTnpxWF9hcnhOemp3bnByOXJNcHBJSUZuT3lBWGNFa0haWjY4dl9uWjk2ZkktSXJuM1hRVU8?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inSwipe for next articleDemocrat lawmakers told the military to refuse illegal orders in a video released TuesdayFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}