Welcome to Talking Fed's one-on-one, deep-dive discussions with national figures about the most fascinating and consequential issues, defining our culture and shaping our lives.

I'm your host, Harry Littman.

Late last month, two senators and four House members, all with backgrounds in the military

or intelligence services, released a public service message, reminding members that they

cannot be punished for refusing an illegal command, and that following a patently

illegal order can itself be a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Donald Trump

was apoplectic. He labeled the public service message, seditious behavior at the highest level, and

continued, each one of these traders should be arrested and put on trial. Defense Secretary Pete

Hegeseth for his part seconded this addition charge and accused the lawmakers of putting

service members at risk. And he ordered an inquiry

into a possible court-martial against Senator Mark Kelly. The administration's response

looked all the more heavy-handed and the entire operation more suspect with the subsequent revelations of a

strike on two survivors of a boat that the administration already had destroyed. The public,

as yet has limited visibility on this second strike, but it appears to be a strong candidate for exactly

the sort of patently illegal order that the Dems public message was warning about.

To discuss the U.S.'s ongoing missions in the Caribbean, there have now been dozens of strikes, and Hegsteth proclaims they will

continue. The administration response and the state of investigation in Congress, I am pleased to

welcome really the perfect guest for this topic. Senator Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is the senior senator from Arizona. He is also a

retired U.S. Navy captain. He served for 25 years in the military, earned the Legion of Merritt

and the Distinguished Flying Cross, and flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm.

He later joined NASA, where he commanded space shuttle

missions. In Washington, he's been a champion for American service members for ending gun violence

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