{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-kelly-warns-pentagon-is-escalating-intimidation-to-silence-dissent/", "ICYMI: Kelly Warns Pentagon Is Escalating Intimidation to Silence Dissent", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Mark Kelly", "K000377", "www.kelly.senate.gov", "markkelly", "https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cI don\u2019t work for Hegseth. I work for the people of Arizona.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is all about escalation and intimidation.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not going to stop doing my job because Donald Trump said I should be hanged and executed.\u201d\n\nIn case you missed it, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined CNN\u2019s Anderson Cooper 360\u00b0, MS NOW\u2019s Morning Joe, and Paul Rieckhoff\u2019s Independent Americans to call out how the Pentagon\u2019s investigation is part of a broader pattern of escalation and intimidation meant to silence dissent and shut down oversight\u2014making clear he won\u2019t back off from doing his job for Arizonans and the American people.\n\nSen. Kelly speaks on Independent Americans.\n\nWatch the full Independent Americans podcast episode here, the full Anderson Cooper 360\u00b0 interview here, and the full Morning Joe interview here. See key excepts below:\n\nFrom Independent Americans, on his duty of oversight and doing his job no matter what\u2026\n\n\u201cI\u2019m also a U.S. senator. I\u2019ve got a responsibility. I\u2019m on the Armed Services and the Intelligence committee. I\u2019ve got a responsibility of oversight to this government, to the Department of Defense, to the CIA, to the National Security Agency. That\u2019s my job and they want to shut me up. If they can successfully, shut me up, get me not to speak out, what kind of message does that send to everybody else who\u2019s retired? It\u2019s a chilling message.\n\nFrom Independent Americans, on serving the American people, not answering to Hegseth\u2026\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t work for these people. I don\u2019t work for Hegseth. He might think I do, being retired. I work for the people of Arizona. And you know who else does? Donald Trump, by the way. This guy often thinks and acts like he\u2019s in charge\u2014he works for all of us. Maybe one day he\u2019s going to wake up and realize this.\u201d\n\nSen. Kelly speaks on Anderson Cooper 360\u00b0.\n\nFrom Anderson Cooper 360\u00b0, on why this investigation isn\u2019t about the truth\u2026\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t heard anything. Still nothing. And this time, two Pentagon correspondents, I guess it\u2019s Matt Gaetz and the Pizzagate conspiracy guy, put something on social media. That\u2019s how we were notified. That\u2019s how unserious they are. That shows what this is all about, this is about attention.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense this country has ever had, by far. And you can see the results from this. We have the largest government agency being run by somebody who has no idea what he\u2019s doing.\u201d\n\nSen. Kelly speaks on Morning Joe.\n\nFrom Morning Joe, on how the Pentagon is trying to use escalation and intimation to silence dissent\u2026\n\n\u201cThis is escalation. They say something about a command investigation without even explaining what that is. [\u2026] This is all about escalation and intimidation. But in this case, they got the wrong guy. I\u2019m not going to back off. I\u2019m not going to stop doing my job because Donald Trump said I should be hanged and executed.\n\n\u201cHe has fired inspectors general. He\u2019s fired JAG officers. He\u2019s fired admirals and generals because of their gender and the color of their skin.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re the greatest military in the world because we follow the rules, we\u2019re professional. We\u2019ve got the best equipment, the best people, the best training. And in my view, Pete Hegseth, over seven or eight months now, maybe since he\u2019s been in this job, has done significant damage to our ability to keep our nation safe.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-kelly-warns-pentagon-is-escalating-intimidation-to-silence-dissent/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.369651174172759, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}