U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) looks on at a press conference calling for the release of the Epstein files, on Capitol Hill in Washington
Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is ready to go back to the battlefield over the Trump administration’s attempted clampdown on ex-military who risked their lives defending their country.
“This week, I heard something that shocked me,” Kendell told the New York Times. “In a federal appeals court … the secretary of defense argued that military retirees were subject to freedom of speech restrictions because of their connection to the military, and that if they didn’t like those restrictions, retirees could forfeit their pension and benefits. Let that sink in. The Trump administration expects the people who have put their lives on the line for America to cede one of their basic rights, or forfeit the retirement pay and benefits they have earned over decades of service.”
Kendall, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, was in the courthouse with other veterans when the administration of President Donald Trump dared to grab at the freedom of people who risked everything to defend Trump’s.
As a young man, Trump received several military deferments as other soldiers his age marched off to war.
Last November Sen. Mark Kelly, (D-Ariz.), a retired Navy captain, released a video with other legislators reminding service members that they have the right and duty to disobey unlawful orders. But Trump was furious at the claim and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth instructed the secretary of the Navy to investigate Kelly and reduce his retirement rank and pay. Kelly fought the move in court and won, but the Trump administration has appealed the decision, which Kendall interprets as an attack on every American who bravely served their nation.
“Hegseth will lose in this court, too, but he has already indicated that he may appeal the case to the Supreme Court. This isn’t over, and it has implications far beyond Mr. Kelly,” said Kendall, who added that Trump and his apparatchiks are “sending a message to all military retirees: If you cross the Trump administration in public, we will come after you, and you will pay a high price for speaking out.”
“This administration has used and abused every tool it has to coerce businesses, universities, law firms, nonprofits, political enemies and private citizens to do as it desires. Now that coercive power is being used to intimidate military retirees, starting with Mr. Kelly,” said Kendall.
And if Trump wins over Kelly, he will clamp the tongues of “over a million Americans who have dedicated themselves to national service.”