参议院军事委员会(Senate Armed Services Committee)的民主党人周二致信海军部长约翰·费伦(John Phelan)，表达了对海军审查参议员马克·凯利的担忧，他是一名退休的美国海军上校，在该委员会任职。
美国广播公司新闻分享了这封信，这是在国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯问费伦之后回顾凯利亚利桑那州参议员在2007年被报道后，因“潜在的非法行为”一个视频与其他五名曾在军队和美国情报部门服役的民主党成员一起他们可以拒绝非法命令根据五角大楼在社交媒体上发布的一份备忘录。
在备忘录中，Hegseth要求在12月10日之前向他汇报审查结果。
委员会中的民主党人，除了凯利，都在信中谴责了这份审查。
“我们认为，这一‘审查’以及国防部宣布对参议员凯利的行为进行‘彻底审查’的社交媒体帖子‘可能包括召回现役军人参加军事法庭诉讼’是不适当的，威胁到我们的开国元勋建立的权力分立，相当于纯粹的政治活动，试图威胁正式当选的参议员的合法行为，并将我们的军事司法系统政治化，”参议员写道。
凯利批评特朗普政府用法律行动威胁他。他继续在社交媒体上发帖抨击唐纳德·特朗普总统及其官员的政策。
“当皮特·海格塞斯在推特上说他正在调查我时，加贝笑了又笑，”凯利上周在一次活动中说，他指的是他的妻子，前众议员加贝·吉福兹。”她意识到两件事。第一，那家伙是个笑话，第二，我不会退缩。”
在信中，这些民主党参议员写信给费伦说,“这个理论一名现任国会议员应该受到与他们的服务完全无关的纪律处分，特别是因为仅仅重申了UCMJ和军事法庭手册中阐明的法律，树立了一个极其危险的先例。"
这封信认为审查是“毫无根据和明显的政治行为”，并认为这违反了分权原则。
“凯利参议员已经两次被亚利桑那州人民选为他们在参议院的代表和代言人。参议员们写道:“国务院试图推翻或破坏亚利桑那州公民意愿的想法，是对我们政府民主制度的直接冒犯。”。
参议员们还质疑审查可以公正进行的观点，引用了特朗普和黑格斯的社交媒体帖子，他们说这些帖子使“公平的程序变得不可能”。
该视频于11月发布后，特朗普书写在社交媒体上，该视频展示了“煽动行为，可判死刑!”特朗普和白宫随后拒绝他以死刑威胁立法者。
参议员们表示，像这样的声明，加上赫格塞斯对费伦的指示，即他在12月10日之前向赫格塞斯简要介绍审查情况，“表明了公然、无耻地滥用权力，旨在影响军事司法程序，并出于纯粹的政治目的恐吓和压制一名美国参议员。”
凯利回应道在本月早些时候的一次新闻发布会上呼吁进行审查。
“我不会被这位总统吓倒。凯利当时说:“我不会被这位总统或周围的人压制住，因为我为这个国家付出了太多，不能向这个人让步。”
在他们的信中，民主党参议员说，对凯利的审查引发了对凯利在许多法规下的宪法保护的“重大法律问题”。
“我们军队的公正性和军事司法系统公平维护宪法和法律对我们国家至关重要，”参议员们写道。
Group of Democratic senators pen letter to Navy secretary condemning Sen. Mark Kelly review
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Tuesday expressing concern about the Navy's review of Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy Captain who serves on the committee.
The letter, which was shared with ABC News, comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Phelanto reviewKellyfor "potentially unlawful conduct" after the Arizona senator was featured ina videowith five other Democrats who have served in the military and U.S. intelligence telling service membersthey could refuse illegal orders, according to a memo posted on social media by the Pentagon.
In the memo, Hegseth requests that he be briefed on the outcome of the review by no later than Dec. 10.
The Democrats on the committee, except for Kelly, condemned the review in the letter.
"We believe this 'review' along with the Department of Defense's social media post announcing a 'thorough review' of Senator Kelly's actions, 'which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings' is inappropriate, threaten the separation of powers established by our Founding Fathers, amount to a purely political exercise seeking to threaten legitimate and lawful actions by a duly elected Senator, and politicize our military justice system," the senators wrote.
Kelly has criticized the Trump administration for threatening him with legal action. He has continued to post on social media slamming President Donald Trump and his officials over their policies.
"When Pete Hegseth tweeted he was investigating me, Gabby laughed and laughed," Kelly said during an event last week, referring to his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords. "She realized two things. One, that guy's a joke, and two, I'm not backing down."
In the letter, these Democratic senators wrote to Phelan that "the theory thata sitting Member of Congress should be subject to disciplinary action entirely unrelated to their service, particularly for simply restating the law as articulated in the UCMJ and the Manual for Courts-Martial, sets an incredibly dangerous precedent."
The letter dismissed the review as a "baseless and patently political undertaking" and argued that it violates the separation of powers.
"Senator Kelly has been elected twice by the people of Arizona as their representative and voice in the Senate. The idea that the Department would try to undo or undermine the will of Arizona's citizens is a direct affront to our democratic system of government," the senators wrote.
The senators also challenged the idea that the review could be conducted impartially, citing social media posts from Trump and Hegseth that they say have made "fair proceedings impossible."
Following the video's posting in November, Trumpwroteon social media that the video demonstrated "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" Trump and the White House subsequentlydeniedthat he was threatening the lawmakers with execution.
The senators said that statements like this, coupled with a directive from Hegseth to Phelan that he brief Hegseth on the review by Dec. 10, "demonstrate an outright, brazen abuse of power intended to influence the military justice process and intimidate and silence a U.S. Senator for purely political purposes."
Kelly respondedto the call for a review during a press conference earlier this month.
"I will not be intimidated by this president. I am not going to be silenced by this president or the people around because I've given too much in service to this country to back down to this guy," Kelly said at the time.
In their letter, the Democratic senators said that a review of Kelly raises "significant legal concerns" about Kelly's constitutional protections under a number of statutes.
"The impartiality of our military and the military justice system to fairly uphold the Constitution and the law are paramount to our nation," the senators wrote.
ABC News has reached out to Phelan for comment.
