Rep. Auchincloss Defends ‘Illegal Orders’ Video, Says Dems Shouldn’t Prove Anything: ‘The Burden of Proof’ Is on Trump

BOLDUAN: “Also on another topic, President Trump continued to attack Democrats overnight over the video that they had put out urging military members to refuse illegal orders. Those Democrats are also facing questions, though, about what illegal orders they are talking about. Some of them are kind of dancing around that question. I want to play for you Senator Elissa Slotkin on ABC just yesterday.”
[Clip starts]
RADDATZ: “Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal orders?”
SLOTKIN: “To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela. And I think that’s why —“
RADDATZ: “And be specific about that.”
(...)
SLOTKIN: “So it was basically a warning to say, like, if you’re asked to do something particularly against American citizens, you have the ability to go to your JAG officer and push back.”
RADDATZ: “And with these service members calling you, couldn’t you have done a video saying just what you just said? If you are asked to do something, if you are worried about whether it is legal or not you can do this? It does imply that the president is having illegal orders, which you have not seen.”
SLOTKIN: “I think for us it was just a statement widely, right? We say very quickly and to all the folks who come to us, this is the process.”
[Clip ends]
BOLDUAN: “The threats against these Democratic members are outrageous and wrong, no question. If they are going there where they did, do you think they should have been more explicit about the contours of what they think is actually illegal?”
AUCHINCLOSS: “I think the burden of proof on respecting the integrity of the military does not lie on these patriots and veterans who are serving in Congress. It lies on the president of the United States who has entertained the idea of using the military to aid and abet the insurrection that he launched in 2020, who has called American cities training grounds for the United States military, who has ordered strikes in the Caribbean that have so rattled our own allies that they have decided to not share intelligence to advance those strikes because they don’t believe that they are justified or legal. This president is the one who has to answer to the American public on his violations of posse comitatus, which means that he can’t use the military for law enforcement purposes, as he’s tried to do in Los Angeles and Chicago and elsewhere. And he has to answer to the American public for why he wants to wage a ground war in Venezuela when the American public has been crystal clear that they are done with military adventurism overseas.”
BOLDUAN: “There seems to be developments that could be coming on that front very soon, for sure. Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thanks for coming in. I appreciate your time. John?”