Mark Kelly Tells Kimmel Pete Hegseth Is Carrying Out Trump's 'Playbook of Authoritarianism': How Democracies Die'

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying he is "totally unqualified" for the post and only wants to "please" President Donald Trump.

Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel during the latter's show, Kelly slammed Hegseth for kicking off a formal review of comments Kelly made along with other Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds, where they told military members they don't have to follow illegal orders.

Kelly said the retaliation for the video is an example of "how democracies die." "It is right out of the playbook, you know, the playbook of authoritarianism. That's what they do. They try to suppress speech," the lawmaker told the host.

"Every one of us has First Amendment speech rights, and I think the president is infringing on those and he is sending, he is sending a pretty strong message. You do not want to cross him, and your loyalty should be to him. It should not. It should always be to the Constitution," he added.

Matters continued to escalate on Tuesday after Hegseth gave a top military official a hard deadline to provide updates on the investigation. In a social media publication, the department told Navy Secretary John Phelan until December 10 to provide updates on the investigation regarding "potentially unlawful comments made by CAPT (Ret) Mark E. Kelly."

"I am referring this, and any other related matters, for your review, consideration, and disposition as you deem appropriate. Please provide me a brief on the outcome of your review by no later than December 10, 2025," the document adds.

In this context, the FBI is also scheduling interviews with the six lawmakers who took part in the video. Fox News detailed on Tuesday that the agencies have contacted Capitol Police to schedule the interviews with Kelly, as well as Sen. Elissa Slotkin, and Reps. Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.

Mark Kelly has been particularly targeted, and Hegseth said he could be court martialed. Kelly has rejected the notion, claiming that Trump and other officials are inciting violence against him.