Fears of political violence as Trump accuses Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’: Live updates

Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after President Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”

Trump’s comments came after a group of six Democratic senators and representatives released a video calling on members of the military to “refuse illegal orders.”

“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,” the lawmakers said in the video released Tuesday.

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President Donald Trump lashed out at a group of Democrats who called for troops to uphold their oaths to the Constitution by demanding that the legislators be arrested and tried for posting a social media video where they urged military members to refuse unspecified unlawful orders.

Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump accused senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, plus Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania’s Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of engaging in “seditious behavior at the highest level” and called the senators and representatives — all of whom are military or intelligence community veterans — “traitors to our country” who should be “arrested and put on trial.”

“Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!!” he added.

In a second post written after he’d deleted the previous one, Trump called the Democrats’ statements “really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”

Trump then added: “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump, “I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than eight and a half million people who call this city home.”

“Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday night. “Further details to follow!”

Shortly before Trump’s Truth Social post, the mayor-elect told MS NOW’s Chris Hayes that his team had reached out to Trump’s.

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Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump told Fox News Thursday night that no one showboats better than his father ahead of an Oval Office meeting between the president and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Larry Summers and his wife flew to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island for part of their 2005 honeymoon, according to a report.

Ten days after Summers, the former treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and the former president of Harvard, and his wife Elisa New got married in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 2005, they headed to Little Saint James, the Harvard Crimson reported.

To reach the island, the pair boarded Epstein’s plane in Bedford, Massachusetts, traveling to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, where they then took a helicopter to reach the disgraced financier’s private island, flight logs seen by the outlet show.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse girls with Epstein, was also on board, according to the flight logs.

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President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump spoke to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Thursday night about his father’s upcoming meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“A lot of people have gone into the White House before and tried to make a scene and tried to have a big PR event and I think most of the people got laughed out of it,” Eric warned. “We saw that with Zelensky.”

An Oval Office meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in February ended with the Ukrainian president being asked to leave after Trump berated him for being “disrespectful.”

“I can probably name 25 people who went into the White House trying to be tough guys and it didn’t end up all that well for them. My father I think performs probably better than anybody in that moment,” Eric said.

Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after President Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”

One of the senators Trump targeted, Mark Kelly, wrote on X that his wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords “nearly lost her life in an act of political violence. Words have consequences, especially when they come from the President of the United States.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that he requested Capitol Police give “special protection” to the lawmakers that Trump targeted.

“I have asked the Capitol Police to give special protection and keep an eye on [Senator Elissa] Slotkin and Kelly as well because you gotta worry after the president says these things,” he said.

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Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump raged at a group of Democratic lawmakers who called for the military to refuse illegal orders.

Trump claimed that the Democrats engaged in “seditious behavior,” which he said was ”punishable by death.” But the president’s claims are baseless, according to U.S. law.

While the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires service members to obey “all lawful orders,” the definition of “lawful orders” as commonly understood excludes orders to commit crimes, target civilians or noncombatants, or perform civilian law enforcement activities that have long been banned under U.S. law.

It’s unclear what, if any, legal grounds would exist to prosecute the representatives and senators for urging service members not to follow illegal orders, as legislators enjoy broad immunity for statements and other acts taken in their official capacities.

Not only does the First Amendment provide broad protection for political speech, the United States has not had laws criminalizing speech against the government as “sedition” on the books since Congress repealed the First World War-era Sedition Act in 1920.

While there is a section of the U.S. criminal code that prohibits “seditious conspiracy” — a rarely used charge last employed against pro-Trump rioters who participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — that provision only applies to conspiracies to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy” the government by force, “levy war against them” or “prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law” of the U.S. by force and so on.

And despite Trump’s claim that “seditious behavior” is a capital offense, in fact, the U.S. criminal code only provides for a punishment of imprisonment for “not more than 20 years.”

Read more on how the White House has defended Trump’s social media activity on the matter: