Democrats react after Trump calls senators’ video ‘seditious’ and ‘punishable by death’
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Democratic congressional leaders warned Thursday that President Donald Trump’s posts accusing several Democratic senators of sedition, “punishable by DEATH,” would encourage political violence against lawmakers.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that six congressional Democrats featured in a viral video calling on members of the military and intelligence community to refuse to carry out “illegal” orders from top officials were “truly bad and dangerous for our country.”
“Their words cannot stand,” Trump said. “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR OF TRAITORS!!! THE ARROWED??? President DJT.”
TRUMP CALLS 6 DEMOCRATS WHO TELL TROOPS TO REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS “TRAISTERS” WHO NEED TO BE STOPPED
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, hold a news conference on the GOP reconciliation bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
He then posted: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH! ” and reposted a user who wrote “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor that Trump was explicitly calling “for the execution of elected officials. This is a threat, pure and simple, and it is extremely serious.”
“Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely,” Schumer said.
“When Donald Trump uses the language of execution and betrayal, some of his supporters may well listen to him,” he continued. “He lights a match in a country imbued with political essence.”
GRAHAM ASKS DEMOCRATS TO EXPLAIN “REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS” MESSAGE TO TROOPS
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Thursday, November 6, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a joint statement with his House Democratic leadership team, condemned Trump’s “disgusting and dangerous death threats” against members of Congress and urged House Republicans to follow suit.
“We have been in contact with the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the United States Capitol Police to ensure the safety of these members and their families,” Jeffries said. “Donald Trump must immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and abandon his violent rhetoric before he has anyone killed.”
Trump’s messages and the response from top congressional Democrats follow a video featuring Sens. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan, Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, and Reps. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania, Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, and Chris Deluzio, Democrat of Pennsylvania, went viral for calling on the military to refuse to follow illegal orders.
DEM VETERANS BREAK SILENCE AFTER VIRAL VIDEO CAUSES SOCIAL MEDIA REPERCUSSIONS: “FRUSTRATED”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) rehearses the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s speech during a joint session of Congress March 4, 2025 in Wyandotte, Michigan. (Paul Sancya – Piscine/Getty Images)
The lawmakers said in a joint statement that “what is most telling is that the President believes he is subject to the death penalty if we rewrite the law.”
“Our service members need to know that we support them as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and their obligation to follow only lawful orders,” they said. “It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.”
Republicans and members of the Trump administration pounced on the video, with some demanding that lawmakers provide details.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who wrote letters to all six lawmakers asking specifically what illegal orders were being issued, said he thought what the group did in their video was “despicable” but acknowledged that Trump’s reaction was “over the top.”
Yet he wanted answers from the Democratic cohort.
“What is an illegal order, what is that? What have we done,” Graham said.
When asked if Trump wanted to execute members of Congress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “No.”
She argued that Trump was directly responding to lawmakers’ call to encourage the military to “defy the president’s lawful orders.”
“The sanctity of our military rests in the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to the deaths of people, it can lead to chaos, and that’s what these members of Congress, who took an oath to uphold the Constitution, are essentially encouraging,” Leavitt said.
The video follows growing questions among lawmakers over the legality of President Donald Trump’s authorization to strike suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, and following the administration’s deployment of the National Guard to blue cities across the country.
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It also follows a surge in political violence in the country in recent years, including two assassination attempts against Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk and a dramatic increase in threats against members of Congress.
