meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
PBS News Hour - Segments

Trump says Democrats should be arrested for urging military to refuse unlawful orders

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Half a dozen Democrats in Congress with military and intelligence backgrounds urged current service members to ignore the chain of command if they are given unlawful orders. President Trump reacted by writing that these members of Congress should be arrested, saying their actions are “seditious behavior” that is “punishable by death.” Amna Nawaz discussed more with Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Half a dozen Democrats in Congress with military and intelligence backgrounds are urging current service members to ignore the chain of command if they're given unlawful orders.

0:10.0

Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.

0:16.0

Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders.

0:21.7

You must refuse illegal orders.

0:24.1

No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.

0:28.8

Now, they didn't specify which orders they consider unlawful, but President Trump has fired back.

0:34.2

Writing on social media, these members of Congress should be, quote, arrested and put on trial,

0:39.2

saying their actions are seditious behavior from traitors that is, quote, punishable by death.

0:44.7

Congressman Jason Crowe of Colorado is a retired Army Ranger, and one of the Democrats you

0:49.0

just heard from in that video, he joins me now. Congressman, welcome to the show. Thanks for

0:52.9

joining us. Hi, Amna. So Caroline Levitt, the White House Press Secretary, was asked about all this in the briefing.

0:59.0

Today, I just want to play for you her response.

1:01.0

Just to be clear, does the President want to execute members of Congress?

1:06.0

No.

1:07.0

Let's be clear about what the President is responding to.

1:10.0

You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate

1:17.8

a video message to members of the United States military, to active duty service members,

1:23.7

to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's

1:30.3

lawful orders.

1:31.3

Congressman, I just want to get your response to the latest from the White House on this.

1:35.3

Well, first off, Caroline Leavitt is just lying.

1:38.3

We specifically said to unlawful orders that they don't have to obey unlawful orders, which actually is what the

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from PBS NewsHour, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of PBS NewsHour and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.