“The President wanting to hang me?” Sen. Mark Kelly, "I take a little bit of offense to it"

Who?Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) — Senate Armed Services CommitteeAsk a Pol asks:What have you made of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth…?Key Kelly:“The president wanting to hang me?” Sen. Kelly exclusively tells Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo. “Yeah, I take a little bit of offense to it, you know? And saying I should be prosecuted, executed, yeah, it’s outrageous. I mean, he’s the President.“The real thing that matters is there are over 2 million retired veterans whose First Amendment rights are on the line with this case, because if they can say that me, as somebody who left the military 15 years ago and is a retired service member, that I do not have freedom of speech rights — and I’m a US senator, right?“If they can take away my rank after 25 years and take away some of my retirement pension, they can do that to anybody. Much easier to do that to somebody else.”ICYMI — Find Ask a Pol on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram!Caught our ear:“This government doesn’t want us speaking out against them,” Kelly tells us. “Such a fundamental American right that we all have is to criticize the government. They don’t like criticism.”TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mark Kelly (Feb. 2026)SCENE: Sen. Mark Kelly invites Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo to ride the underground tram from the US Capitol to his office across the street.Matt Laslo: “What do you think about this, the President and the Pentagon…?”Mark Kelly: “The president wanting to hang me?”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “Yeah, I take a little bit of offense to it, you know? And saying I should be, you know, prosecuted, executed…”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “…yeah, it’s outrageous. I mean, he’s the President.”ICYMI — Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo used this exclusive interview for his wireservice, The LCB, client Raw StoryML: “Yeah?”MK: “He should — every day he just says outrageous stuff.”ML: “Are you worried, though, seeing the Pentagon then carrying out his unconstitutional will?”MK: “There is a — am I worried? There’s a process.”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “This is part of the process. I filed a lawsuit against Pete Hegseth to, you know, stop that process.”ML: “Yeah?”MK: “But the real thing is…”Kelly and his aides already boarded the underground tram when Kelly invites Laslo aboard.MK: “Here, you want to hop in?”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “You know, the real thing that matters is there are over 2 million retired veterans whose First Amendment rights are on the line with this case, because if they can say that me, as somebody who left the military 15 years ago and is a retired service member, that I do not have freedom of speech rights — and I’m a US senator, right?”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “If they can take away my rank after 25 years and take away some of my retirement pension, they can do that to anybody. Much easier to do that to somebody else.”ML: “Yeah.”MK: “And, you know, this government doesn’t want us speaking out against them — and such a fundamental American right that we all have is to criticize the government. They don’t like criticism.”ML: “Do you — are you feeling good about your case?”MK: “The law and the Constitution are on our side here.”ML: “Yeah?”MK: “So yeah, I mean, anything can happen, but, yeah, I felt pretty good about it.”ML: “Seeing you on TV a lot because of it.”Laslo laughs; Kelly doesn’t.MK: “Yeah. I didn’t ask for this.”ML: “I know.”MK: “I mean, I was just trying to send a really very simple, basic message that I felt needed to be said.”ML: “Yeah?”MK: “And, you know, this is all Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth’s doing.”ML: “Yeah.”Let us know what to ask your US Senator next!About Ask a Pol: We give listeners a front row seat to Congress. Transparency matters, so come inside the Capitol with us! Politicians disappoint. Ask a Pol keeps em honest. Find us on social media:SubstackXSpotifyAppleDon’t miss our other Ask a Pol sites! Ask a Pol politics.Ask a Pol crypto. Ask a Pol drugs. Ask a Pol ai. Ask a Pol uaps. Find Ask a Pol founder @MattLaslo on social media. Ask a Pol AI Disclosure:Ask a Pol’s playing around with as many new AI tools as we can, so this small, unfunded startup can compete in today’s new media landscape. (generative) AI isn’t tomorrow’s tech — it’s yesterday’s… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.askapolpolitics.com/subscribe