White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the United States “can’t have” soldiers questioning whether orders are legal after Democrats pointed out that troops have a responsibility not to follow illegal orders.
During a Monday interview on Fox News, Leavitt said Democrats were giving “a wink and a nod to the 1.3 million active duty service members who serve in our United States armed forces and essentially encourage them to defy the orders of their commander-in-chief.”
“Not a single order this president or administration has given to our military has ever been illegal, nor will it ever be,” she insisted. “This administration respects and abides by the law.”
“You can’t have a soldier out on the battlefield or conducting a classified order questioning whether that is lawful or whether they should follow through. There must be a chain of command in our military.”
Despite Leavitt’s claim, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) states that service members can be liable for following unlawful orders, including burglary, murder, assault, rape, and property destruction. The UCMJ also prohibits “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses.”
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