ICYMI: Kelly Warns Pentagon Is Escalating Intimidation to Silence Dissent

"I don't work for Hegseth. I work for the people of Arizona."

"This is all about escalation and intimidation."

"I'm not going to stop doing my job because Donald Trump said I should be hanged and executed."

In case you missed it, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, MS NOW's Morning Joe, and Paul Rieckhoff's Independent Americans to call out how the Pentagon's investigation is part of a broader pattern of escalation and intimidation meant to silence dissent and shut down oversight-making clear he won't back off from doing his job for Arizonans and the American people.

Sen. Kelly speaks on Independent Americans.

Watch the full Independent Americans podcast episode here, the full Anderson Cooper 360° interview here, and the full Morning Joe interview here. See key excepts below:

From Independent Americans, on his duty of oversight and doing his job no matter what…

"I'm also a U.S. senator. I've got a responsibility. I'm on the Armed Services and the Intelligence committee. I've got a responsibility of oversight to this government, to the Department of Defense, to the CIA, to the National Security Agency. That's my job and they want to shut me up. If they can successfully, shut me up, get me not to speak out, what kind of message does that send to everybody else who's retired? It's a chilling message.

From Independent Americans, on serving the American people, not answering to Hegseth…

"I don't work for these people. I don't work for Hegseth. He might think I do, being retired. I work for the people of Arizona. And you know who else does? Donald Trump, by the way. This guy often thinks and acts like he's in charge-he works for all of us. Maybe one day he's going to wake up and realize this."

Sen. Kelly speaks on Anderson Cooper 360°.

From Anderson Cooper 360°, on why this investigation isn't about the truth…

"I haven't heard anything. Still nothing. And this time, two Pentagon correspondents, I guess it's Matt Gaetz and the Pizzagate conspiracy guy, put something on social media. That's how we were notified. That's how unserious they are. That shows what this is all about, this is about attention."

"He is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense this country has ever had, by far. And you can see the results from this. We have the largest government agency being run by somebody who has no idea what he's doing."

Sen. Kelly speaks on Morning Joe.

From Morning Joe, on how the Pentagon is trying to use escalation and intimation to silence dissent…

"This is escalation. They say something about a command investigation without even explaining what that is. […] This is all about escalation and intimidation. But in this case, they got the wrong guy. I'm not going to back off. I'm not going to stop doing my job because Donald Trump said I should be hanged and executed.

"He has fired inspectors general. He's fired JAG officers. He's fired admirals and generals because of their gender and the color of their skin.

"We're the greatest military in the world because we follow the rules, we're professional. We've got the best equipment, the best people, the best training. And in my view, Pete Hegseth, over seven or eight months now, maybe since he's been in this job, has done significant damage to our ability to keep our nation safe."