Fact-checking Trump’s claim that a video by Deluzio and others was ‘seditious’

This article was published as part of a partnership with FactCheck.org.

After six congressional Democrats lawmakers including Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, released a video advising members of the U.S. military and national security community to “refuse illegal orders,” President Donald Trump said the lawmakers should be tried in court for “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” But legal experts told us this was not sedition and that the legislators were restating the law that only lawful orders must be followed.

“Sedition is trying to overthrow the government with force or violence,” Eric R. Carpenter, a professor of law at Florida International University College of Law, said in an email to us. “In the video, the elected officials are just telling service members to follow the l