Democratic Senator Mark Kelly appears to be afraid of getting in the bad books of President Donald Trump amid discussions of a potential cut to his retirement pay. Or at least, that is what his latest move seems to suggest.
The retired Navy captain recently appeared on viral video, where he was seen urging fellow service members to refuse the “illegal orders.” The video prompted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to announce that the Pentagon is taking administrative action against Kelly.
While Kelly remained unfazed at the time and suggested Hegseth would not be successful in his attempts to “intimidate” him, his brave stance appeared to crumble while discussing Trump’s attack on Venezuela during a TV appearance this Tuesday.
During a recent appearance on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper (via Fox News), Kelly found himself in hot water when he asked what he thought of the Venezuela crisis.
The Senator seemed to be specifically hesitant to label the military strike in Venezuela, which led to the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as “illegal.”
Is Mark Kelly actively trying to make things even worse for himself?
— VegasLeAnn (@vegasleann) January 8, 2026
“So, what we were talking about in the video is about a service member being given a specific order and having to make a decision about whether this is lawful or not. And this is like the reasonable person theory. What you‘re getting at is constitutional questions,” Kelly said in reference to his video and his opinion on the Venezuela situation.
“Can a president try to do a law enforcement action on a head of state, but use 150 airplanes and the full force of the U.S. military to do that? So, these are two different things,” he stated.
The Senator went to say Maduro is a “bad guy,” and stated that the world is a better place now that he is “gone.”
“Now, Maduro is a bad guy, and it‘s good that he‘s gone. It seems like this president, because he had no plan beyond removing Maduro, has now installed Maduro‘s No. 2 person in Delcy Rodriguez,” Kelly mentioned.
“You know, that‘s what we call, in the Navy, fleeting up when the executive officer becomes the commanding officer. That‘s the situation we have in Venezuela right now. And it‘s because I don‘t think they had a plan of what was going to come next,” he shared.
I guess this is what Mark Kelly warned about when instructing troops to not follow illegal orders.
— Floridian (@erwin730) January 8, 2026
Kelly’s comments after Hegseth announced that Mark Kelly tried to sabotage a “good order” through his “illegal orders” video. The Secretary of War mentioned that since the former receives a “military pension,” he is “still accountable to military justice.”
“As a retired Navy captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice,” Hegseth wrote, in part.
Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline. As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) January 5, 2026
These comments implicitly point out that Kelly might be afraid of the repercussions. As a result, he might be refraining from calling Donald Trump’s military action in Venezuela “illegal.”
While this is only a speculation but it Kelly’s actions may make it seem like he fears that the POTUS would stop his pension if he calls him out on a public platform again.
