US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers – all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community – called on US military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders”.

The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Senator Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers – Slotkin, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and Representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan – speak directly to US service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now”.

“The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution,” Slotkin wrote in the X post. Along with the Michigan senator, the other lawmakers appearing in the video are seen as possible future aspirants for higher office, who now, thanks to the video’s wide exposure, have elevated their own political profiles.

Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his Maga base. Some Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

With pieces of dialogue spliced together from different members, the lawmakers introduce themselves and their background. They go on to say the Trump administration “is pitting our uniformed military against American citizens”. They call for service members to “refuse illegal orders” and “stand up for our laws”.