'No' Trump doesn't want to execute members of Congress: Leavitt
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt faced several questions after President Donald Trump called several Democratic veterans "traitors" who should face the death penalty for releasing a joint video where they said that U.S. service members could refuse illegal orders.
"Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress?" one reporter asked Leavitt during Thursday's briefing.
"No," Leavitt said. "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 respond in this way. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military to active duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's lawful orders."
In the video directed at military members, Democratic veterans and former intelligence officials -- including Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly -- said that military service members can refuse illegal orders. None of the Democrats mentioned any specific illegal orders given to service members, but they said "this administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens."







