WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following statement after President Trump said several Democratic senators and members of Congress should be arrested and put on trial, and then endorsed their execution, for their video earlier this week reminding members of the military and intelligence community that their allegiance is to our Constitution and that they can refuse to carry out illegal orders:
“Our service members swear an oath to uphold our Constitution, and the administration should never try to force them to carry out an illegal order. Calling for the execution of senators and members of Congress for reminding our troops of that is chilling behavior we should expect from authoritarians like Orban or Putin, not the President of the United States. Every one of my Republican colleagues needs to stand up and swiftly condemn this."