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Source: Pentagon Looking At Reducing Sen. Kelly's Rank And Pension; Democratic Veterans Teams Up In Effort To Flip The House; MTG's District In Disbelief After Trump Feud, Shock Resignation. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired November 25, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:32:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: So we've got some new reporting on the Defense Department's investigation into Democratic Senator and Retired Navy Captain Mark Kelly. An official familiar with the matter tells my colleague Pam Brown that the Pentagon is now looking at reducing Kelly's rank and pension pay. Now, this comes after yesterday's threat to court-martial him over a video he was part of that urged troops to disobey any illegal orders.
Kelly responded to the threat on MS Now last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK KELLY (D), ARIZONA: I said something that was pretty simple and non-controversial, and that was that members of the military should follow the law. And in response to that, Donald Trump said I should be executed. I should be hanged. I should be prosecuted.
I think it says a lot more about him than it says about me. He doesn't want accountability. But Rachel, I'm not going to be silenced. I'm not going to be intimidated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: My panel is back. First, I want to note that we are a long way from this is punishable by death. This is sedition to this is a court-martial to maybe we should dock your pay. Like it feels like a downshift. But I don't want to read too much into it. Who's been watching the White House on this?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it certainly is a downshift from yesterday saying a court-martial was in order to call him back to active duty service. And we've never seen anything like this. This is, you know, added to the unprecedented list of things we've not seen.
But I think the broader point is they are losing in the independent judiciary. But inside the administration, this is a place where the administration officials win because they control the rules. So this is, I think, just a broader flex of executive authority here. At the same time, not bad for Mark Kelly.
CORNISH: But can I -- so just slow down. So you're saying basically, you're going to get your cases dismissed in courts.
ZELENY: Right.
CORNISH: Where judges --
ZELENY: In real courts.
CORNISH: Yes. You're not in control. But where you're commander in chief of this martial justice system --
ZELENY: Yes.
CORNISH: -- that's a more favorable venue, so to speak, if you want to punish your enemies.
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Yes. And it shows also just to your point, this White House is not going to -- this White House is going to use as many institutions, as many agencies that have historically had independence. And it has the intent to use those agencies and turn them into a means to punish political foes of the President.
And we've seen that here again. It's not just --
CORNISH: Yes.
KANNO-YOUNGS: -- the Justice Department, especially as they face pushback in the courts, right? Now they're going to go through the Pentagon as well.
CORNISH: Priscilla, you brought up something really interesting, which is like messing with veterans, which --
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CORNISH: -- the Trump folks don't like to do. We saw that in the first one. But I want to play for you Paul Rieckhoff. He was -- he's the founder of the Independent Veterans of America and here's how he perceived this threat against Kelly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RIECKHOFF, FOUNDER AND CEO, INDEPENDENT VETERANS OF AMERICA: I think what Trump wants to say is if I can come after him, I can come after anyone. This is crossing the Rubicon. This is going to a space we've never gone before. The idea you can drag him back onto active duty and threaten court martial, which I don't think any -- he has any grounds to do. But the fact that he's threatening to do it is breaking glass that's never been broken before in the modern military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:35:16] ALVAREZ: Veterans are also voters. And so the question is how much of this is going to resonate with them and also that they're going to take offense to it. Not only the court marshaling, but also the pension and the pay. We actually see this a lot, even in the Department of Homeland Security and the way that the administration --
CORNISH: Yes.
ALVAREZ: -- deals with law enforcement officers and the threats that they face. And that's where you often hear, hey, I'm all for the policy, but do not touch my pensions or anything that has to do with that. So that's going to be interesting. And speaking of voters, we're looking at Mark Kelly, who is that 2028 presidential hopeful. He already put out fundraising emails with this threat.
So your --
CORNISH: If you're not subtle, I want to play for you --
ALVAREZ: Yes.
CORNISH: -- how he has been talking about this out in the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane. I've been shot down -- nearly shot down multiple times. I've flown a rocket ship into space four times built by the lowest bidder. And my wife, Gabby Giffords, meeting with her constituents, shot in the head, six people killed around her.
A horrific thing. She spent six months in the hospital. We know what political violence is and we know what causes it too. You know, the statements that Donald Trump made is insightful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I'm not sure anyone expected the President to react the way he did, but I have to assume the people who were in the ad, they're in there for a reason, right? They're veterans themselves and they're able to make these arguments politically. Can Kelly kind of keep talking about this, even if nothing happens?
ALVAREZ: I mean, I'm sure that everything we just heard him say in that segment is something we're going to hear repeatedly. The political violence is already something that is talked about often. It was the case in the 2024 presidential election. This is something that he can lean on further in, you know, the run up now, in addition to the others who are similarly on that.
CORNISH: Yes.
ALVAREZ: Because in addition -- the other part of the new cycle this week was the blowback they were getting from releasing this video and the political violence that they were facing. So all of this is tied together. CORNISH: Jeff, can I ask you one last thing? I remember --
ZELENY: Sure.
CORNISH: -- it wasn't Kelly at one point people thought like, oh, could he have been a Kamala VP choice? Where is he in the scrum of pre-2028 rumor mongering?
ZELENY: Well, he's one of many and there are many. I think it's way too early to put someone sort of at the head of the pack but boy, this is certainly elevating his history, his biography. I mean, so that is something that -- I mean, it's always easier to run for president than to be vetted for vice president because the vetting kind of happens with voters and it's not done by lawyers and things.
So, look, I think he will certainly be in the mix of people being discussed far too early to know sort of how that goes. But this is a fight that he seems quite eager to be leaning into --
CORNISH: Yes.
ZELENY: -- and not backing down at all.
KANNO-YOUNGS: And it comes when Democrats are looking for a fighter, right? And each time the President attacks someone like this, it does present an opportunity for somebody, whether it be Newsom, we've seen it, or Mark Kelly here, to present themselves as somebody willing to engage in that political fight --
CORNISH: OK.
KANNO-YOUNGS: -- with the President.
CORNISH: I'm glad you brought that up. We've got something special for you.
Coming up, the Hell Cats are here, a group of Democratic veterans, all women teaming up to take back the House. We're going to talk about their plans. That's next.
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[12:42:53]
CORNISH: OK, so I'm going to tell you now about the Hell Cats, the first female Marines to serve in World War I. Well, now there is a new group of women embracing that name. They are four veterans, all Democrats, and they're running for Congress with the mission of flipping the House in 2026.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've served our country in uniform and now we're answering the call to serve again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to step up and lead. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because the American people deserve better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are patriots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fighters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leaders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to take back our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the Hell Cats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the Hell Cats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the Hell Cats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the Hell Cats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's (INAUDIBLE) go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, joining me now, two of the four Hell Cats, there's Cait Conley of New York. Welcome to the program.
CAIT CONLEY (D), ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Thanks so much. Thank you for having us.
CORNISH: And JoAnna Mendoza of Arizona. Thank you for being here as well.
JOANNA MENDOZA (D), ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Yes, thank you.
CORNISH: So, Joanna, we're going to start with you because we were just talking about Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and him being in hot water with the Trump administration for participating in that video, reminding servicemembers about their duties to obey legal orders, disobey illegal orders.
Now, how are you feeling about how the Pentagon is threatening Kelly? I think we're learning his pension and pay, because you're about to go out on the campaign trail and I assume criticize the Trump administration using your military credentials.
MENDOZA: Yes, well, first of all, thank you, Audie, for the opportunity to connect. You know, I mean, Mark -- Senator Mark Kelly said it himself, like he's not going to be bullied and he is holding true to his commitment to this country. You know, we took an oath to serve to protect and defend the Constitution and its people., and that's exactly what he's doing.
The military and military service should not be about politics. It should be about our country and serving. And unfortunately, you have an administration who is clearly creating distractions instead of addressing issues that people really need addressed, like lowering the costs -- CORNISH: Yes.
MENDOZA: -- of groceries.
[12:45:04]
CORNISH: Can I bring in Cait here, because I would think, though, if you guys are about to go out, call yourself Hell Cats, talking about this stuff, but you may have some people out there who said, look, that video those Democrats made, it went too far. This is creating problems. What's your response to that? How do you plan to talk about these issues?
CONLEY: Well, I guess people who have put our lives on the line time and time again for this country to fight and defend for what America stands for, they're not going to intimidate us from staying in that fight. And just as Mark Kelly said and others, this is about who we are as a nation and the values we stand for.
And for generations, we have made sacrifices to make sure that our political disagreements are solved at the ballot box and through open discourse, not through threats of political violence or intimidation. And so this is just unacceptable for who we are as a country. We can't let this be who we become as America.
And we do need to hold the line and say this has gone too far. The political weaponization of the executive branch has gone too far. And to Jo's point, the American people are sick of it. They want politicians focused on the real problems --
CORNISH: Yes.
CONLEY: -- not on these distractions.
CORNISH: I hear you guys also running in your campaigns on sort of the buzzword of this cycle, which is affordability. And I think that the most recent sort of success story around Democrats, if you look at a place like New York, obviously the mayor-elects are on Mamdani. He's also become this very polarizing figure.
And I want to talk to you, Cait, because Republican Mike Lawler, who you're actually hoping to unseat, has sort of tied you to some of the things that Mamdani has said that are most controversial, especially around issues of Israel. Can you talk about that link? Could that hurt you politically?
CONLEY: Mike Lawler is going to try very hard to paint whatever picture he thinks is most helpful for him in this fight. But the reality is he can't run away from his record. And the reality for families here in the Hudson Valley is that since he's been elected, he has only made it harder for families to put food on the table, a roof over their family's head, afford health care, keep the lights on, or give their kids a better future.
And so what you saw, whether it was the New York City mayoral election -- CORNISH: Yes.
CONLEY: -- or the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, is that Americans are craving real leadership right now, people who are going to put the country ahead of party and people ahead of politics and are going to solve real problems.
CORNISH: And Cait, can I come back to something here because this is also about the base. You have seen this really strong generational shift, especially within the Democratic Party against Israel's government. And that has played out in ways that have really caused problems for Democrats. Is there a way to talk about that, that appeals to this generation of voter and does not alienate the independents who are worried about antisemitism?
CONLEY: I mean, absolutely. We live it every day up here in the Hudson Valley, where we talk about how antisemitism has absolutely no place in America. And this is unacceptable. And how we conduct conflicts matter, right?
Look, as someone who has worn the uniform for 16 years and did six overseas tours to multiple combat zones, I have tremendous pride in who we are as an American military and understand the complexity and challenges of our national security interests. And how we conduct ourselves matters.
I think having those conversations with people was saying, look, these aren't mutually exclusive things. But I will tell you, Audie, the thing I hear about every single day here in New York 17 is affordability, because families are struggling. You've got working families who feel like America is no longer working for them. And I think that is what everyone is clamoring for us to stay focused on, because we are not delivering in ways they need us to.
CORNISH: Do you guys think that there is some quiet voter out there who is frustrated, disappointed, scared, has concerns about how the military is being used, the kinds of changes that have been made, whether it's about diversity, whether it's about the role of women? Is there something the rest of us are missing that you think you can tap into?
MENDOZA: Well, look, first and foremost, I mean, you know, again, military service isn't about politics, it's about our country. And the people who answer the call to serve, like the Hell Cats, and many who have gone before us, and many who will come after us, are about ensuring that we keep the military apolitical.
When -- as a Marine Corps drill instructor and someone who also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, you don't ask the person to the left or right of you their political affiliation. You are laser focused on the mission and bringing everyone home back from the deployment and ensuring that you're successful.
And so right now, the concerns that we're seeing, and especially in a state like Arizona, where we have over 500,000 veterans, and in this district that I am running in, in AZ-06 to replace Juan Ciscomani, we have over 80,000 veterans and several military bases.
[12:50:15]
And I can tell you that the community, the veteran community specifically right now, is outraged by what this administration is doing. And Juan Ciscomani's complicity is that he has remained silent and has refused to denounce political violence and threats.
CORNISH: OK. You guys, thank you both for speaking with us. These are political candidates, Cait Conley and JoAnna Mendoza. Thank you for your time.
MENDOZA: Thank you so much.
CONLEY: Thank you for having us.
CORNISH: Now coming up on CNN, CNN goes to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's district to get the voters' take on the political rift and her resignation because it's jolting Washington. Stay with us.
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[12:55:35]
CORNISH: It's the political breakup and resignation that blindsided the beltway. How do Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's constituents feel about her decision to step away from Capitol Hill amid her bitter feud with President Trump?
CNN's Jeff Zeleny actually went to that district in Georgia to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID GULDENSCHUH, VICE CHAIRMAN, FLOYD COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: We wanted Marjorie to be Marjorie. We appreciate her. She doesn't blend into the curtains like other people do up in Washington.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like so many others here in Georgia, David Guldenschuh was talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the bombshell announcement she will resign from Congress in January. But unlike most who only talk about her, he knows her well. And after finishing his weekly radio show today, he said three things, above all, explain why she's leaving.
GULDENSCHUH: She may be very, very, very conservative. At the same time, she wants to see things get done. The second factor, I think, was the Charlie Kirk assassination. That had a profound impact on her. And then the third thing, I think, was just the falling out with President Trump.
ZELENY (voice-over): Among friends and foes alike, and there are many of both in her hometown of Rome, Georgia, a sense of disbelief at her decision reverberated from one conversation to another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big surprise. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't expect that.
ZELENY (voice-over): Sunny Knauss runs the Sunflour Community Bakery, and had started to reconsider her view of Greene after she stood her ground against President Trump over the release of the Epstein files.
SUNNY KNAUSS, OWNER, SUNFLOUR COMMUNITY BAKERY: I disagreed with a lot of the stuff she did early on in Congress. I applaud her for breaking away from the pack, because that's a really hard thing to do in politics. There's just a handful of people that are brave enough to do that. So I got to hinder that.
ZELENY: Like breaking away from Trump, you mean?
KNAUSS: Right, right. Breaking away from Trump and just standing up.
ZELENY (voice-over): The 14th Congressional District, stretching from Atlanta's suburbs to the Appalachian foothills and Tennessee state line, has long been Trump country, and the congresswoman has long led the loyalty parade.
TRUMP: Come on up, Bunchy. Come on.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R), GEORGIA: Thank you, Mr. President.
ZELENY (voice-over): All that a distant memory after she criticized the President and he turned on her.
TRUMP: Marjorie Traitor Greene.
ZELENY (voice-over): The remarkable feud that ultimately led to a resignation video on Friday night.
GREENE: I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away and gets better.
ZELENY (voice-over): Was still fresh on the minds of many people here today, including these two Greene supporters out for a morning walk.
ZELENY: How was she as a congresswoman from the district?
GREG GARRETT, GEORGIA RESIDENT: Well, I think she represented the people, what they felt. Not everybody felt that way, obviously. I wouldn't have called her a traitor. That's Trump. You know, he -- but he hits back if you hit him.
ZELENY (voice-over): With 42 days now left in her abbreviated term, there was no shortage of opinions about Greene. Radford Bunker was among those expressing regret to be losing their firebrand in Congress.
RADFORD BUNKER, ATTORNEY: I'm sorry that she resigned. I think that she's a thoughtful person. Like I said, I'm just sorry that politics has come to the sort of tribalism where you have to agree with everything on everybody.
ZELENY (voice-over): Others like Virginia McChesney were far closer to saying good riddance.
VIRGINIA MCCHESNEY, RETIRED TEACHER: We, this district, really just want someone who represents us instead of thinks of themselves and tries to promote a political point of view.
ZELENY: Are you sorry to see her go?
MCCHESNEY: Not really. I think we've probably seen more of her as a real person in the past three days than we have ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CORNISH: OK, Jeff, what's the future here among the MAGA base, which we hear kind of mixed reviews about how they feel about her leaving?
ZELENY: I mean, no shortage of opinions on either side. But the future, that is really an unknown. I mean, if you talk to friends of hers, which we did, say she really does want to step back, at least from elective office. But the question is, does she want to sort of lead this disaffected MAGA movement, which, of course, we should say, I mean, most of President Trump's supporters are still all in.
CORNISH: Yes, but we don't know how big that is.
ZELENY: But there are some fissures -- exactly. But there are some fissures in terms of what the priorities are. So most people believe that she will have an outside role, that she will perhaps be a commentator or something. But, look, also, some others do not rule her out from running.
Georgia has a very important Senate race, a governor's race. So we shall see. But the suddenness of this was really just so --
CORNISH: Yes.
ZELENY: -- a huge surprise to so many people in her district.
CORNISH: And as for why people care beyond that, part of it is people trying to understand what's the future after Trump. What does that look like?
ZELENY: Right.
CORNISH: Who leads that? Who are the voices, so?
ZELENY: And she's starting out earlier than anyone really thought.
CORNISH: Yes, of course. All right. Thank you so much, Jeff. That was a wonderful piece.
Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts with the headlines in just a moment.
