BREAKING: Pete Hegseth gets ULTIMATE HUMILIATION in court

You're watching the Legal Breakdown, Glenn. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of. Defense, just got some bad news in. court, swatted down by a judge. Can you. explain what just happened? Yeah, Brian. Senator Mark Kelly is running roughshod. over the Trump administration. First, they tried to criminally indict him even. though he committed no crime. All he did. was make a public service announcement. video reminding military members that. they must disobey unlawful orders. That's like black-letter law right out.

of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And then just today, after he sued Pete. Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, for. trying to punish him, bust him down in. rank, take some of his retirement pay. for speaking that truth, Hegseth said. that's service discrediting and it's, you know, damaging to uh good order and. discipline of the military troops. Well, here is what Judge Leon in Federal. District Court in Washington, D.C. just.

said in his ruling in favor of Senator. Mark Kelly. He said, "This court has all. it needs to conclude that defendant. Hegseth and company have trampled on. Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms. and threatened the constitutional. liberties of millions of military. retirees. After all, as Bob Dylan. famously said, you don't need to be a. weatherman to know which way the wind. blows. To say the least, our retired.

veterans deserve more respect from their. government and our Constitution demands. they receive it. I'm going to give Judge. Leon the hallelujah chorus. He issued a. preliminary injunction telling Pete. Hegseth, "No, you will not be punishing. retired Navy Admiral and current United. States Senator Mark Kelly for speaking. the truth on what is a political matter,

whether our military members are being. put in a position where they're being. asked to potentially obey unlawful. orders. This was a runaway win for. Senator Kelly. So Glenn, this makes two wins now. because just a few days ago the effort. to actually indict these Democratic. lawmakers and Democratic senators for. committing the crime of repeating. exactly what's in the in the in the. military code of conduct. Uh that effort. failed. There were no grand jurors who. were actually willing to indict and if I.

if I remember correctly, that number was. zero. Like there wasn't even a single. grand juror who was willing uh to vote. in favor of this indictment. And now it. looks like we have this civil suit if. I'm not mistaken that also failed. Is. that correct? Yeah, so it really was a a. great couple of days for Senator Mark. Kelly, but more importantly Brian, it. was a great couple of days for the rule. of law and the United States. Constitution. You know, Pam Bondi and. Jeanine Pirro found somebody. They. scrounged up somebody to go into a.

federal grand jury in Washington D.C. and try to criminally indict six. innocent people, all of whom happen to. be members of Congress. They were either. military veterans or formerly members of. the intelligence community. And Brian, all they did was really in substance. read from the UCMJ, the Uniform Code of. Military Justice. Those are the criminal. laws that apply to service members and. they said, "Listen,

military members take an oath of loyalty. to support and defend the Constitution. Part of their responsibility in taking. that oath is that they must disobey. unlawful orders. I mean, think about it. If a superior commissioned officer. ordered a troop to kill that unarmed. citizen, you know, would Pete Hegseth have us. believe that the soldier or the sailor. or the seamen should carry out that. order? No. And all these six members of. Congress did was remind our military.

members, our veterans, and all of the. American people of that non-negotiable. responsibility. And, you know, Jeanine. Pirro sent somebody into the grand jury. to try to indict Senator Mark Kelly and. the other five members of Congress who. appeared in that video. You know, I love. what Jamie Raskin said, I believe it was. the other day at the congressional. testimony of Attorney General Pam Bondi. He said flat out, "Donald Trump orders. up prosecutions like pizzas, and you, AG.

Bondi, are happy to deliver them." Well, this grand jury rejected that vindictive. pizza from, I guess we could call it. Papa Don's, and they basically. figuratively threw Jeanine Pirro and her. lawyers out on their ear. They said, "No, we will not indict people who. committed no crimes.". And I want to talk about how this is. going to impact future cases, future. vindictive or selective prosecutions.

that the Trump administration engages. in. But first, just a quick note for. those who are watching. Uh if you'd like. to support our work and see more legal. news, the best way to do that is to. subscribe to both of our channels. I'm. going to put those links in the post. description of this video. It's 100%. free to do so, but it's a great way to. support us and independent media. So. again, those links are in the post. description. So Glenn, in terms of how. this is going to have any impact on. future cases, does this chip away at the. presumption of regularity that most. judges uh would normally offer up to the. DOJ? It absolutely does. And just for.

our viewers, the presumption of. regularity has applied to the Department. of Justice and the prosecutors who go. into court every day doing the work of. the American people, it has applied for. decades. And what that presumption. stands for is that when a prosecutor. stands up in court and is duty-bound to. tell the truth. We have an ethical duty. of candor to the court. Usually when we. make representations to the judge, the. judge credits our representations. Why?

Because DOJ typically enjoys a. presumption of regularity in the work. that they're doing on behalf of the. American people. But Brian, judge after. judge, federal judge after federal judge. has started to say in their rulings, in. their opinions, in their orders, "We. will no longer apply the presumption of. regularity to Department of Justice. lawyers because they are being caught in. misrepresentations. one after another after another." So, this ruling today from Judge Leon will.

serve Senator Mark Kelly well moving. forward. And here's how. Even though what happens in one case, indeed this is one civil case, doesn't. really have any direct presidential. value either in another civil case or in. a criminal case unless you're Senator. Mark Kelly and you now have a judge. finding that the Trump administration. through Secretary of Defense Pete. Hegseth just tried to violate Senator.

Kelly's constitutional rights. Retaliate, that's a word that is. throughout this this ruling by Judge. Leon. Retaliate against Senator Kelly. for exercising his First Amendment. rights, indeed for speaking the truth. And now we know that there is a record. established in this court ruling that. the Trump administration has tried to. wrongfully punish Senator Kelly. What do. you think will happen if Jeanine Pirro. deigns to go back into the grand jury a. second time, you know, through one of.

her lawyers and actually succeeds in. obtaining a criminal indictment against. Mark Kelly for the very same language. that Judge Leon just ruled enjoys First. Amendment constitutional free speech. protection. That case will be thrown out. even faster than the James Comey and. Letitia James indictments were thrown. out. So, even though it's not directly. precedential, boy, it will carry a lot.

of weight in the mind of any future. judge who has to take on the question. of, let's see, is the Trump. administration vindictively going after. Senator Mark Kelly? You know, I think. Senator Kelly, figuratively speaking, is. bulletproof on this issue if the Trump. administration tries to drag him back. into court either civilly or criminally. Glenn, I have to ask, given the fact that what.

the Trump administration was alleging. here was so ass-backwards. I mean, again, they were just repeating exactly. what's in uniform military code of. justice. Like, they were just literally. read- reading it off the page. You. cannot follow an unlawful order. It's. It's right there in black and white. Given the fact that this was so. frivolous, what do you think the purpose of this. whole of this whole venture was for the. Trump administration and for Pete. Hegseth? Like, did they Do you think. that they really believed a judge was. going to be like, "Yes, repeating.

verbatim what's out of what's out of. this, you know, code of justice. is somehow a crime or a civil violation, and and and we're going to allow this. whole farce to proceed." Like, what do. you presume the point of this was? A. couple of things. First of all, Donald. Trump wants to use the Department of. Justice as a weapon in his hand, facts, law, and Constitution be damned, to go.

after his perceived enemies. So, the. result matters less to Donald Trump than. the fact that his flunkies at the. Department of Justice, if his. sycophants, his lapdogs were willing to. do his unconstitutional. bidding against one of his perceived. enemies, Senator Mark Kelly. Um so that. is one reason. Another reason is to. instill fear and intimidation in the. minds of others, specifically in the. minds of other military members,

veterans, and retirees, and Brian, they. succeeded. You know how we know they succeeded? In. this 25-page ruling from Judge Leon, he. cites an amicus brief, a friend of the. court brief that was filed. In that. brief, there was an affidavit from more. than 40 military retirees and veterans, and you know what they swore to under. oath? They were intimidated in otherwise. exercising their free speech against the.

Trump administration, against the. lawlessness of the military under. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, they. were chilled. They were intimidated. because of what the administration just. did to Senator Mark Kelly. We don't have. to speculate on whether this, you know, resulted in intimidation. It had a. chilling effect on the free speech. rights of others. There's evidence in. the record that it did, and I think that.

was another goal of Trump, Hegseth, and. company. And so what impact then do you think. that. uh Hegseth losing and Mark Kelly winning. here, do you think that that's going to. have an adverse effect where it. emboldens other service members to be. able to speak out, or do you think that, you know, the the the toothpaste is out. of the tube, the damage is done, and you. know, even though they weren't. successful in their venture to to sue. Mark Kelly and these other Democratic. officials, um they've still sent the the.

the message to any other, you know, members of the military what they what. their expectations are. You know what? I'm going to call this one a push. I'm. going to say that some people will. probably still be intimidated, but. others will be emboldened because they. saw that Senator Kelly just fought the. Trump administration and he won. And. with every loss the Trump administration. is suffering in court. Hell, they just. had two against Senator Kelly, one in. civil court and one attempted in.

criminal court when the grand jury told. Jeanine Pirro, "Get out of here. We're. not going to indict Senator Kelly and. the others." You know, that, I think, will also have the potential effect of. emboldening people. And with every Trump. loss, Trump gets weaker and the forces. who are aligned against Trump, that. would be we the people, the vast. majority of the American people, get. stronger and we realize our efforts are. having the desired effect, whether it is.

military troop withdrawals and the. recent reporting is that military. troops, whether they're federalized. National Guards or military members. proper, all have been withdrawn from the. states. We just saw that um the ICE. immigration enforcement operation in. Minnesota is withdrawing in its. entirety. That's the new reporting. We. We the people are having an impact. We. are doing this and the courts are doing. it. So, make no mistake about it. We.

need to continue to ratchet up our. efforts. We need to double down. We need. to triple down and keep doing what we're. doing, standing up, staying strong, speaking out, marching, protesting, rallying. Blow those damn whistles. Record with those cell phones because. guess what? Trump is getting weaker and. the people are getting stronger. We'll leave it there. Again, for those. who are watching, if you'd like to stay. on top of all legal news as soon as it. breaks, the best way to do that is to. subscribe to both of our channels. I'm. going to put those links right here on. the screen and also in the post. description. If you're not yet.

subscribed, it's completely free, but. again, a great way to support us and. independent media. I'm Brian Tyler. Cohen. And I'm Glenn Kirschner. You're. watching The Legal Breakdown.