Updated November 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM PST

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday President Trump does not actually want to see members of Congress executed despite his social media post earlier in the day, calling a video by some members "seditious behavior, punishable by DEATH!"

Trump made a pair of posts on his site, Truth Social, in response to a video posted by Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., Chris DeLuzio, D-Pa, Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., where the lawmakers address members of the military and intelligence communities and said, "You can refuse illegal orders," repeating the phrase several times before saying, "You must refuse illegal orders."

The lawmakers, all of whom come from m

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