Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona vowed that he would “fight” back after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced administrative actions against the retired Navy captain for his participation in a video that urged U.S. troops to refuse unlawful orders.

“Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution—including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out,” Kelly said in a post on X on Monday. “I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that.”

“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it,” he continued. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got—not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

Kelly shared his statement soon after Hegseth announced on X that his department was initiating proceedings against Kelly that could result in a reduction in the Senator’s military pension, and that he had issued a “formal Letter of Censure” to “ensure this action.” The letter, Hegseth said, “outlines the totality of Captain (for now) Kelly’s reckless misconduct” and will go in the retired captain’s “official and permanent military personnel file."

“Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly—and five other members of Congress—released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth said. “As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War—and the American people—expect justice.”

Hegseth was referring to a video that Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers—all of whom either served in the military or in national security roles before taking office—posted in November, in which they told members of the military and intelligence community that “no one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.” 

The politicians didn’t specify in the video what kinds of orders, if any, prompted them to share this message. But President Donald Trump’s use of the American military during his second term has sparked controversy among lawmakers and legal experts, including the strikes his Administration has authorized on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that it has were transporting narcotics.