Trump labels Democrats’ message to troops amounts to 'Seditious Behavior, Punishable by Death'; White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt slams Democrats for inciting violence

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused several Democratic lawmakers of seditious behavior, urging that they should be 'arrested and put on trial' for actions he claimed could be 'punishable by death'. The lawmakers - many of them veterans - had released a video on Tuesday urging members of the military and intelligence community to refuse any unlawful orders.


"It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET,” Trump wrote in one Truth Social post Thursday morning, linking to an article about the video from the Washington Examiner.



"This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???" Trump wrote another post.


In a third post, he wrote: "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!"


The 79-year-old also reshared a post from a user calling to 'hang them', claiming that George Washington would have taken similar action.

Democrats swiftly condemned Trump’s remarks as "absolutely vile” after he targeted the six senators and representatives featured in the video.

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS PRESIDENT TRUMP

The White House later clarified on Thursday that President Trump is not seeking to execute members of Congress, despite his sharp criticism of the Democratic lawmakers who urged the US military to reject unlawful orders.

"No," said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt when asked at a briefing about Trump's remarks calling the Democratic lawmakers traitors who should face execution.


"Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?" Leavitt said, as quoted by AFP, while slamming the lawmakers.

The Democratic lawmakers, all with military or intelligence backgrounds, included Senator Mark Kelly - a former Navy serviceman and NASA astronaut - and Senator Elissa Slotkin, who previously served with the CIA in Iraq.

"You can refuse illegal orders," they said in the video, accusing Trump of "pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens."