Kelly: “I’ve been through a lot worse in service to my country. The president and Pete Hegseth aren’t going to silence me”

Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly held a press conference on Capitol Hill to speak out about President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s efforts to intimidate him and stop him from holding them accountable.   

Sen. Kelly speaks on Capitol Hill.

Watch the full press conference here. See key excerpts below: 

Kelly contrasted his lifetime of service to the country to Trump’s public record and said he will continue speaking out: “In 1991, when Donald Trump was driving the Taj Mahal Casino into bankruptcy, I was getting shot at over Iraq and Kuwait. In 2001, after Donald Trump said that the collapse of the Twin Towers meant he now owned the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan, I was carrying flags honoring 9/11 victims into space on a rocket ship. In 2003, when Donald Trump was writing birthday greetings to the monster Jeffrey Epstein, I was the first on the scene to recover the bodies of my fellow astronauts who died when Space Shuttle Columbia exploded. In 2011, when Trump was hosting a reality show and pushing conspiracies against President Barack Obama, I was sitting next to my wife’s hospital bed as she recovered from a gunshot to the head.  

“My point is this: I’ve been through a lot worse in service to my country. The president and Pete Hegseth aren’t going to silence me. They aren’t going to keep me from speaking out. And they aren’t going to stop me from doing my job. Enough of the bullying. Enough of the intimidation. Enough of the threats. Enough of the nonsense. It doesn’t help anyone in America afford their groceries or pay their medical bills. And it erodes the rights of every American. My job is to fight for them and to stand up for the Constitution. And nothing is going to stop me from doing my job.” 

Kelly highlighted Trump’s longstanding tactic of bullying his opponents into silence: “Throughout his entire career—in business, reality TV, and politics—Donald Trump has had one and only one play: bully his opponents into silence. He did it as a failed casino owner who bankrupted his properties and screwed over his contractors. He did it as a reality TV host known for firing people. And he has done it as a President who tries every day to intimidate people, with no regard for the rights or well-being of the American people. 

“I’ll say this for him: while he’s never seemed to do much else right, for most of Donald Trump’s career, bullying people has worked out for him. But not now. Because I won’t let it. The American people won’t let it. President Trump is trying to silence me—threatening to kill me— for saying what is true. He’s sent his Secretary of Defense after me. And it’s not going to work.” 

Kelly condemned the administration’s abuse of power: “Trump and Hegseth care more about publicity than they do about the rule of law. That’s how I ended up finding out via a tweet that the Secretary of Defense was ordering an investigation into me. The same Secretary of Defense who has, from the moment he was nominated, been historically unqualified for this role. The same Secretary of Defense who is reported to have ordered a second strike to kill shipwrecked survivors in the Caribbean. If there is anyone who needs to answer questions in public and under oath, it’s Pete Hegseth.” 

Kelly further made clear this isn’t about him, but about who the president will try to bully into silence next: “It’s not about me. It’s not about the other five members in the video. […] This is about a president who doesn’t want anybody to say anything that he does not like. I don’t think he understands the Constitution. I’m serious about this. I think he is ignorant to the Constitution and the rule of law. And he just wants to silence us, and it starts with us. And that’s one of the reasons people say, ‘well, why wouldn’t you like, just back off?’ Because this isn’t about me. This is about what he will do next. Who’s he going to go after next? Which servicemember? Which government employee? Which citizen who decides to say something that this president doesn’t like? And then he goes after them, in my case, with the Secretary of Defense. Who knows what’s next? With the attorney general? This DOJ has been just attacking people for all kinds of stuff. And what’s next? Our First Amendment rights? Ain’t happening.” 

Click here to view and download Kelly’s remarks.