Trump Officials Can Be 'Held Accountable' for Obeying His Illegal Orders: Ex-JAG Officer

[babylonsister]

Trump Officials Can Be ‘Held Accountable’ for Obeying His Illegal Orders: Ex-JAG Officer
by Carl Gibson | November 26, 2025 - 6:47am

— from Alternet


Top officials in President Donald Trump's administration can face prosecution for carrying out his orders to investigate and prosecute Democrats, according to one former Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer.

On Tuesday, Glenn Kirschner – who was a captain in the U.S. Army's JAG corps – told MS NOW host Jen Psaki that the Trump administration's attempts to potentially court-martial Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) could carry serious legal consequences for everyone responsible. He observed that the court-martial process is similar to typical federal court procedures in that the defendant (which Kirschner said is known as "the accused" in the military criminal justice system) has all the same Constitutional rights that other defendants have.

Kirschner went on to argue that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggesting that Sen. Kelly could be called back into active duty in order to be court-martialed would be a violation of that procedure. He added that the other Democrats in Congress who served in the military or in intelligence — who have been singled out by the Trump administration for reminding rank-and-file service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders — have similar rights.

"What I see is Donald Trump abusing his power as commander-in-chief in the military setting by basically insisting that a court-martial be contemplated, a military investigation be instituted against Senator Mark Kelly, or that the FBI begin investigating the other members of Congress who made that public service announcement video," Kirschner said. "That was nothing more than announcing heartland military law principles."

According to Kirschner, because Trump is "abusing his power," any officials who obey illegal orders from the commander-in-chief could likewise find themselves investigated and penalized for carrying out those orders. He specifically named Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, who is currently attempting to interview the Democrats in the video, as officials who could be prosecuted under a future Democratic administration.

video/more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/carl-gibson/115534/trump-officials-can-be-held-accountable-for-obeying-his-illegal-orders-ex-jag-officer

[multigraincracker]

1. That loud explosion we are hearing is

a backfire. Music to my ears.

[BlueTsunami2018]

2. It's always an "ex" judge, "ex" General, "ex" whatever who says these things.

They’ve loaded everything up with their own cronies, so it doesn’t really matter what some former guy says. The rules have changed.