"Punishable by death": Trump slams Dem video urging troops to reject illegal orders

What they're saying: "This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country," Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

• "Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???"
• Another post made just over an hour later used similar language. In that post, Trump wrote: "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH."

Driving the news: The six Democratic veterans reminded the military and intelligence communities that "no one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution" in a 90-second video posted on X on Tuesday.

• "This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution."
• "Right now, the threats to our constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders ... you must refuse illegal orders."
• The lawmakers, veterans of the Navy, CIA, Air Force and Army Rangers, include: Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.).

State of play: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his leadership deputies said in a statement they have been in touch with the House sergeant-at-arms and U.S. Capitol Police about Trump's posts.

• The conversations, they said, are "to ensure the safety of these Members and their families."
• The leaders condemned the "disgusting and dangerous death threats," calling for Republicans to do the same and for Trump to "immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant this violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed."

The intrigue: The lawmakers did not specify what unlawful orders they were referring to in the video.

• However, Crow said in a Fox News interview Wednesday that the video was just a "simple reminder ... about their legal obligations."
• He added that service members are "often put in very difficult positions," and that Trump has "put them in very difficult positions and has alluded to putting them in even more difficult positions in the months and years ahead."

Context: Sedition is language intended to "incite insurrection against the governing authority," according to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law, and unlawful order is one that is "contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders or for some other reason is beyond the authority of the official issuing it."

• Members of the military "have the right, and in some cases have the duty, to refuse illegal orders," according to the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force.

• Military members swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the Commander-in-Chief or anyone else in the chain of command.

Zoom in: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the video was signaling that members can "defy" the president and "betray" their oath of office.

• "They're suggesting that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this Commander-in-Chief, and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful."
• "The courts have proven that. This administration has an unparalleled record at the Supreme Court because we are following the laws. We don't defy court orders, we do things by books."
• The administration has won —and lost— many court battles in an attempt to implement the president's sweeping agenda.

Zoom out: The president has suggested a long list of his political opponents who should be investigated, charged, jailed.

• He's followed through with some of those threats to prosecute by securing indictments against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.
• Separately, several lawmakers, including once staunch MAGA ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), have faced threats and swatting incidents after the president slammed them for their criticism.

Read the full Joint Leadership Statement below:

Go deeper: Indiana lawmaker faces swatting incident after Trump criticism

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Karoline Leavitt.