{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-on-state-of-the-union-and-meet-the-press-kelly-pushes-back-against-trump-administration-efforts-to-silence-him/", "ICYMI: On State of the Union and Meet the Press, Kelly Pushes Back Against Trump Administration Efforts to Silence Him", "2025-11-30", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Mark Kelly", "K000377", "www.kelly.senate.gov", "markkelly", "https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cWhat he is doing is sending a very chilling message across our entire nation, not only in the military, but the civilian workforce\u2026Why would anyone speak out if they can go and try to prosecute a U.S. senator?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s not going to stop me from speaking out and holding him accountable for the things that he does that are wrong and unlawful.\u201d\n\nIn case you missed it, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined CNN\u2019s State of the Union and NBC\u2019s Meet the Press this morning to call out efforts by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to silence him for stating what the law says. Kelly made clear he will continue holding the administration accountable and won\u2019t back down.\n\nWatch the full State of the Union interview here and the full Meet the Press interview here. See key excerpts below:\n\nFrom State of the Union, on the investigation\u2026\n\n\u201cWe said something very simple and non-controversial, and the President of the United States said, \u2018Hang them. Execute them. Prosecute them.\u2019 In my case, Secretary Hegseth said, \u2018Prosecute him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,\u2019 for reciting the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It\u2019s obviously ridiculous, but this is an attempt to silence me, to get me to not hold this administration accountable.\n\n\u201cWe have a president who doesn\u2019t understand the Constitution, who installed an unqualified Secretary of Defense. I cannot think of a Secretary of Defense in the history of our country that is less qualified than Pete Hegseth. He should not be in this position. He should have been fired after Signalgate.\n\n\u201cBut, Dana, I\u2019m not backing down. These guys don\u2019t scare me. They\u2019re not serious people. I mean, the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense. Neither of them.\u201d\n\nFrom State of the Union, on the dangers of attempting to punish dissent\u2026\n\n\u201cWhat he is doing is sending a very chilling message across our entire nation, not only in the military, but the civilian workforce. Who\u2019s going to speak up and say anything if they see something that\u2019s unlawful or see something\u2014waste, fraud, and abuse? Why would anyone speak out if they can go and prosecute a U.S. senator?\n\n\u201cI was notified about this through a tweet, the same tweet that you saw. And that demonstrates how unserious this administration is. They care more about the publicity about this than the process or the law. I haven\u2019t been notified by the Navy.\u201d\n\nFrom Meet the Press, on refusing to be intimated by Trump and Hegseth\u2026\n\n\u201cPete Hegseth says that I should be court-martialed. I mean, how ridiculous is this? We say \u2018follow the law,\u2019 and this is their response. These are not serious people. And, Kristen, this is meant to just intimidate us. We\u2019re sticking up for the Constitution here, and the rule of law, and they\u2019re saying these folks should be executed for doing that.\n\n\u201cThis president thinks he can bully and intimidate people. He\u2019s not going to stop me from speaking out and holding him accountable for the things that he does that are wrong and unlawful. \u201cJust like saying that we should be hanged, executed\u2014that\u2019s about intimidation. Sending the FBI after us\u2014that\u2019s further intimidation. I\u2019ll follow the law, but I\u2019m not going to be intimidated. I\u2019m not going to be bullied. Especially by Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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-on-state-of-the-union-and-meet-the-press-kelly-pushes-back-against-trump-administration-efforts-to-silence-him/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8065279107540846, "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"}