House Democratic leaders hammered President Trump on Thursday after the president suggested a group of Democratic lawmakers should be executed for “seditious behavior.”
Behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the Democratic leaders warned that Trump’s remarks, which targeted six Democrats with military or national security backgrounds, have put the lawmakers at risk of becoming targets of political violence.
The Democrats demanded that Trump “immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed.”
“We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same,” said Jeffries, joined by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), in a statement.
“The President’s violent and unhinged rhetoric against American patriots is consistent with his well-documented history of attacking prisoners of war, Gold Star families and war heroes,” they added. “There is no bottom when it comes to Donald Trump.”
The controversy surrounds a video released by six Democrats from both chambers urging members of the armed forces not to follow any “illegal orders” during the course of their duties.
Appearing in the video are Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.) and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.).
Trump responded on Thursday, characterizing the Democrats as “traitors” to the country and suggesting they should face the death penalty for sedition. 
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump posted on Truth Social.
A short time later, he posted an addendum: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
The comments arrived during a heated moment of national polarization, when recent episodes of political violence have sparked fears of deeper troubles to come and both parties have accused the other of fueling the problem.
Democrats on both sides of the Capitol quickly condemned Trump’s remarks as another example of the president promoting violence against his political rivals.
“The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. ‘HANG THEM,’ he posted,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on X.
“If you’re a person of influence in this country and you haven’t picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a f‑‑‑ing side.”
Republicans interpreted Trump’s remarks differently and rushed to the president’s defense. They went after the six Democrats who posted the initial video, saying they threatened the country’s national security by encouraging military personnel not to follow orders.
Asked about Trump saying it was punishable by death, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he thought Trump was merely defining sedition.
“That is a factual statement. But obviously attorneys have parsed language and determined all that,” Johnson said.
“What I’m saying, what I will say unequivocally, is that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do, to encourage young troops to disobey orders,” Johnson added.
“I mean, think of what the threat that is to our national security and what it means to our institutions. I just — we have got to raise the bar in Congress. This is out of control, and it’s wildly inappropriate, and for a Senator like Mark Kelly, or any member of Congress in the House or Senate to be engaged in that kind of talk is, is to me, just so beyond the pale.”
The White House, meanwhile, defended Trump’s social media posts. At a briefing on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump did not in fact want to punish lawmakers by death, downplaying his remarks and shifting the focus to Democratic rhetoric.
“Many in this room want to talk about the president’s response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way,” she said.
“To suggest and encourage that active duty service members defy the chain of command is a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do,” Leavitt added. “And they should be held accountable. And that’s what the president wants to see.”
Emily Brooks and Brett Samuels contributed.
