By MG Paul Vallely (U.S. Army, retired) and Tony Lentini
The ongoing coup conspiracy against President Trump has just taken an even darker turn: Five former-military and one former-CIA-analyst Democrat Members of Congress just engaged in a seditious conspiracy against the United States, the duly elected President, and all active-duty members of our armed forces.
Under current U.S. law, the Seditious Conspiracy Statute (18 U.S. Code § 2384) criminalizes two or more people conspiring to:
· Levy war against the United States;
· By force, oppose the authority of the U.S. government;
· By force, prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any U.S. law; or
· By force, seize any U.S. property.
Civilians violating this statute face fines and/or up to 20 years imprisonment. Active-duty and retired military conspirators face courts martial and possible capital punishment.
As defined by this statute, certain Democrat governors, mayors and Members of Congress could be considered to have committed sedition by actively and forcefully opposing federal authority through preventing, hindering, and delaying the enforcement of U.S. immigration law by ICE agents. Up to now, the president and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have been remarkably patient in refraining from the nuclear option of charging these officials with sedition. However, this latest escalation requires immediate action.
Two Democrat Senators and four Democrat Representatives participated in the seditious video organized by Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst. Slotkin presently serves as Democrat Sen. Jack Reed’s designee to the West Point Board of Visitors (BoV). Reed, himself a West Point graduate, is the Democrats’ Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Other participants in the deliberately incendiary video are Navy Veterans former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D, AZ), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D, PA) and Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D, NH); Army Veteran Rep. Jason Crow (D, CO); and Air Force Veteran Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D, PA). Deluzio, a Naval Academy graduate, serves on his academy’s BoV.
Though couched in intentional and disingenuous generalities, the video clearly is intended to convince active-duty military personnel to violate the lawful orders of their Commander-in-Chief at a time when U.S. forces are engaged in combat against drug cartels and terrorists around the world.
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coast Guard members who might foolishly follow the seditious advice of these Congressional conspirators would surely face courts martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So, the video intentionally and inexcusably puts members of our armed forces at risk and attempts to further politicize our military.
Thus, this video is not protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) that speech is punishable “when directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action” and is “likely to incite or produce such action.”
At the very least, President Trump should fire Slotkin from West Point’s BoV and Diluzio from the Naval Academy’s BoV. In these perilous times, we cannot afford to have subversives like Slotkin and Diluzio serving in an oversight capacity for the nation’s military academies. The Republican majority leaders in both houses of Congress also should remove the video participants from all committee assignments. And the DOJ should move forward with their prosecution.
-end-
Major General Paul E. Vallely (U.S. Army, retired) is a 1961 West Point graduate who served a distinguished career of 32 years in the Army. A Vietnam combat veteran, he has more than 15 years’ experience in Special Operations, Psychological and Civil-Military Operations and served in U.S. security assistance missions to Europe, Asia and Central America. A prolific author and former military analyst for Fox News, he is Chairman of the Stand Up America US Foundation.
Tony Lentini is a 1971 West Point graduate who served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Captain. In his civilian career in the energy industry, he served as Vice President of Public & International Affairs for two independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. Now retired, he writes on military and public affairs topics.
