The “Seditious 6”: Veterans Who Restated the Law and Triggered an FBI Probe

Trump labeled them traitors “punishable by death” for a one-minute video about refusing illegal orders. This is how a basic statement of military law became a test of oath, power, and fear.

Nov 26, 2025

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Hero graphic showing U.S. military medals on an American flag with bold text reading “They told troops to refuse illegal orders. Trump called them traitors,” introducing a 50501 Movement article about six veteran lawmakers investigated by the FBI after reminding service members to disobey unlawful orders. — *Six veteran lawmakers told troops to refuse illegal orders. Trump called them “traitors” and “seditious” and now the FBI and Pentagon are investigating.*

On Tuesday, November 18, 2025, six Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, and Representatives Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio, Jason Crow, and Maggie Goodlander posted a short video.

Their message to the troops was simple:

“You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.”

Two days later, Donald Trump was on Truth Social calling them traitors and accusing them of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

By the following Tuesday, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division had notified Congress it was opening an inquiry and requested interviews with all six. The Pentagon announced it is investigating Senator Kelly and has signaled it could recall the retired Navy captain to active duty for possible court-martial.

The FBI’s counterterrorism division is investigating members of Congress for reminding service members of their legal obligations.

Graphic with a blue American flag background and bold white text reading “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders,” highlighting core U.S. military law in a 50501 Movement article about six veteran lawmakers investigated after reminding troops to disobey unlawful commands. — *“You can refuse illegal orders. You **must** refuse illegal orders.” the one-minute message six veteran lawmakers gave to the troops before Trump called it “seditious.”*

What the Law Says

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Manual for Courts-Martial, service members are required to obey lawful orders, not every order.

The Manual explains that while an order is generally presumed lawful, “this inference does not apply to a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime.”

That’s been baked into U.S. military law since Congress passed the UCMJ in 1950, drawing directly on the post-World War II Nuremberg principles.

At Nuremberg, when Nazi officers tried the “just following orders” defense, the tribunals rejected it: obedience to orders is not a defense for war crimes.

Those rulings became foundational to modern military law. Individual soldiers are responsible for refusing manifestly illegal orders especially orders to commit crimes.

Legal experts told FactCheck.org straight up that what these lawmakers said is not sedition and that “the legislators were restating the law that only lawful orders must be followed.”

Eric R. Carpenter, a professor of law at Florida International University College of Law, put it in basic English: sedition is about trying to overthrow the government with force or violence. In the video, the elected officials are telling service members to follow the law and refuse unlawful commands.

So why the FBI?

Why They Made the Video

Senator Elissa Slotkin explained it bluntly after the video went up.

“It wasn’t that there was any one incident, it was the sheer number of people coming to us and saying, ‘I’m worried. I am being sent to Washington or I’m being sent to L.A. or Chicago… and I’m concerned I’m going to be asked to do something that I don’t know if I should do.’”

Service members were calling Congress worried and scared.

Unsure if the orders they were getting would actually be lawful.

Like what orders?

Let’s talk about the Caribbean.

Since early September, U.S. forces have carried out 21 air and maritime strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 83 people. The administration says the vessels were carrying drugs but so far it has released no public proof of who was on those boats or what was on board. No names, cargo or identities. Just video clips of explosions on the water.

Here’s what makes that legally explosive:

According to reporting on internal Pentagon concerns, the senior Judge Advocate General (JAG) at U.S. Southern Command the top military lawyer for the command running these operations warned that the legal justification for the strikes was weak and that they could be viewed as extrajudicial killings, exposing U.S. troops to legal risk. His concerns were overruled. The strikes went ahead anyway.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has now urged the U.S. to halt these lethal boat strikes, warning they may amount to possible extrajudicial killings if they continue without transparency or clear legal basis.

And then there are the troops in our cities.

Federal courts have now blocked or ruled against Trump’s National Guard deployments in Washington, D.C., Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Memphis. Five cities. Five judges.

In D.C., U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that Trump’s deployment of thousands of Guard troops to patrol the capital “violates federal law” and is illegal.
In Portland, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, found that Trump “did not have a lawful basis” to federalize the Guard under the “rebellion” statute and rejected his portrayal of the city as “war ravaged.”
In Los Angeles, a federal court concluded the Guard’s activities crossed the line into unlawful domestic law enforcement, violating long-standing limits like the Posse Comitatus Act.
In Chicago and Memphis, judges issued injunctions blocking Trump-aligned Guard deployments as unconstitutional or likely unlawful under federal and state law.

Courts say unlawful.
Military lawyers say unlawful or dangerously close.
Six lawmakers restate the law.

And the FBI opens an investigation into the lawmakers.

Veterans: Tell the Troops to Refuse Unlawful Orders

Our 50501 Veterans team is putting together a compilation video of veterans standing with Senator Kelly and the six lawmakers under investigation. They’re asking vets from across the country to send in short clips with one shared message of support, which will be edited together and pushed out across social media. If you want to be part of it, all you have to do is record a few seconds on your phone and send it in with no name, no extra script, just one clear line.

Record a short video and say this:

“As a veteran, I stand with Senator Kelly and the Seditious 6 in saying disobey all unlawful orders.”

About the word “seditious”:
Trump is the one who labeled these six lawmakers “seditious” and said what they did was punishable by death. Legal experts have been clear: reminding service members to follow lawful orders is not sedition.

50501 Veterans chose to use “Seditious 6” on purpose, to flip that smear on its head and own the narrative. If that language doesn’t sit right with you, feel free to swap in “Righteous 6” or “Patriotic 6.” The heart of the message is the same:
disobey unlawful orders, defend the Constitution.

Our benefits, our VA disability, and our retiree protections are all at risk. If you’re a retiree who doesn’t want to risk being recalled but is okay with someone else taking that risk, that’s privilege, and we all need to check it.

Because if Trump can threaten a sitting senator with recall and court-martial for restating the law, every retiree who ever took an oath can see the writing on the wall.

If defending the Constitution is “seditious,”
if reminding troops of their legal obligations is “seditious,”
if standing with lawmakers who refuse to be bullied is “seditious”

then silence is not neutral, it’s surrender.

The oath didn’t expire.
Now 50501 Veterans are asking who’s willing to put that on camera.

50501 Veterans TikTok

The Line Between Duty and Dictatorship

The lawmakers put it in writing:

“We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied.”

When Trump amplified calls for their execution, they answered with one more sentence:

“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law.”

The executive branch is now using federal law enforcement and military investigations against sitting members of Congress over a one-minute video reminding service members of something that is already written into military law:

You can refuse illegal orders.
You must refuse illegal orders.

Not for encouraging lawbreaking.

For telling troops to follow the law.

Elizabeth Goitein, who leads the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, looked at Trump’s pattern of sending troops into U.S. cities and put it bluntly:

“It is increasingly clear that Trump’s actions are not just unprecedented but also unlawful.”

This is a line.

These six lawmakers are standing on it.

Veterans are starting to stand beside them.

Now it’s your turn.

🎖️Shout-Out to 50501 Veterans

The 50501 Veterans are speaking out when they see red flags.

50501 Veterans is the organization organizing this veteran resistance.
These are our Veterans on the ground, in the streets, at the Capitol, and standing between fascism and our Constitution.

Here’s what they’ve been up to:

More than 1,400 veterans marched to the U.S. Capitol, a “virtual Veteran Army” assembled for peaceful, nonviolent protest. They carried an upside-down American flag, signifying the dire distress our country is in.

They stood with Epstein survivors at a press conference. When the administration tried to intimidate survivors with a military flyover, veterans on the ground rendered “salutes of the single-finger variety”.

They’re providing protest safety training, action toolkits, and organizing resources for veterans and allies across the country.

Their mission: “Keep our veterans and their allies informed in the fight to ensure our country honors its commitments to those who sacrificed so much in defense of our nation”.

This is grassroots resistance at its finest. No corporate funding. No PAC money. Just veterans who will not see their country fall to authoritarianism without a fight.

As our 50501 Vets put it: “We’ll get through this. Because we are stronger together!”

Want to join or support veteran-led resistance?

📌 Visit their website on ways to get involved: 50501vets.com
📌 Read and Subscribe to their Substack: 50501veterans.substack.com
📌 Send your video: 50501veterans@gmail.com

These veterans are putting their benefits, their security, their comfort on the line.

The least we can do is amplify their voices.

“If defending the Constitution is seditious, call me seditious. My oath didn’t expire. Neither did theirs.”

How do you feel about Trump calling the 6 lawmakers “traitors” and accusing them of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” ? Do you think this will escalate?

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