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Fair for dummies. That's the Wall Street Journal editorial board's assessment of Donald Trump's use of a criminal investigation by the Trump Justice Department of the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Over the weekend, Jerome Powell became the first Fed chair in history to have to publicly explain that the president is insane. He did that in the form of a video announcing that the Trump Justice Department has issued investigative subpoenas to him because he has not agreed with Donald Trump's assessment of exactly where interest rates should be during the Trump presidency.
Senator Elizabeth Warren described this absurd attack on the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell today in an important speech that she delivered off-campus from the United States Senate at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. And after that speech, Donald Trump suddenly, from out of nowhere, called Senator Warren. Senator Warren will tell us about that phone call when she joins us during this hour.
And in another case of lawfare for dummies, Harvard University taught Donald Trump and his Justice Department many lessons. When Harvard went to court to block Donald Trump's attempt to not just cut research funding at Harvard University but to completely take over the university, Donald Trump, who now calls himself the acting president of Venezuela in a flight of derangement, was trying to become the president of Harvard, which is older than both Venezuela and the United States of America.
While other universities like Columbia disgraced themselves forever by allowing Donald Trump to seize some control of those universities, Harvard fought back and won in every way, including foreign students. Donald Trump set out to ban foreign students from entering the country bound for Harvard University this year, and not only did Harvard beat Donald Trump in court on that one, but Harvard's enrollment of foreign students has hit a new record high: 6,749 students, 28% of the student body.
And what did Donald Trump achieve in the rest of the country in his attempt to block foreign students? A 1% decline nationally in foreign student enrollment in all of American universities. And so, despite communicating worldwide his intense personal hatred of foreign students in America, Donald Trump failed to scare them away. And Harvard University crushed Donald Trump.
We begin tonight with another case of Lawfare for Dummies. And in this case, the dummies are Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth.
Former Navy combat pilot and astronaut, now Senator Mark Kelly, joined a video in November with other military veterans who are now members of Congress, in which Senator Kelly addressed himself to the American military, saying, quote, "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders." Senator Kelly was the only member of that group who is in an ongoing relationship with the Navy in the form of a pension, earned after 25 years of service. It takes 20 years to earn a military pension.
Pete Hegseth decided that Senator Kelly's pension was a chain that he, Pete Hegseth, could yank to harm the senator by changing Senator Kelly's retirement grade. That would lower Senator Kelly's retirement grade to something lower than Captain, and then that would lower his pension. And so Pete Hegseth set out to shame and fine Mark Kelly for saying something that Pete Hegseth himself had said: that members of the military should not follow unlawful orders.
Senator Kelly has insisted on this program and elsewhere that he will not be intimidated by Pete Hegseth. And today, Senator Kelly put Pete Hegseth on the defensive by literally making him a defendant in the case of Kelly versus Hegseth, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., asking a federal judge to stop Pete Hegseth.
Senator Kelly's lawsuit says the process that the Secretary of Defense has directed for reconsidering Senator Kelly's retirement grade violates due process. The Constitution does not permit the government to announce the verdict in advance and then subject Senator Kelly or anyone else to a nominal process designed only to fulfill it. Nor does the statute cited by Secretary Hegseth provide any basis to conduct such a proceeding.
Defendants invoking 10 United States Code Section 1370, which governs the grade at which an officer is retired based on whether the officer served on active duty satisfactorily. Senator Kelly's active duty is over. He retired honorably as a Captain with a remarkable record of awards and commendations, and his retirement grade and the pension to which he is therefore entitled became final by operation of law at the time of his retirement more than 14 years ago. Nothing in the statute authorizes the Department of Defense to reopen that determination based on post-retirement political speech. And if it did, it would raise serious constitutional concerns and subject all of the nation's retired veterans to an ever-present threat against their retirement.
Senator Kelly respectfully asks this court to declare the central letter, reopening determination, retirement grade determination proceedings, and related actions unlawful and unconstitutional, to vacate those actions, to enjoin their enforcement, and to preserve the status of a co-equal Congress and an apolitical military.
Senator Kelly's 46-page lawsuit complaint filed today quotes the video in which Senator Kelly said, quote, "Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders." Senator Kelly's lawsuit said that that statement is simply a plain statement of law.
On page 17 of Senator Kelly's lawsuit, it says, "Secretary Hegseth himself has previously HEGSETH MADE CLEAR THAT IF YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING THAT IS JUST COMPLETELY UNLAWFUL AND RUTHLESS, THEN THERE IS A CONSEQUENCE FOR THAT. THAT'S WHY THE MILITARY SAID IT WON'T FOLLOW UNLAWFUL ORDERS FROM THEIR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. THERE'S A BELIEF THAT WE ARE ABOVE WHAT SO MANY THINGS THAT OUR ENEMIES OR OTHERS WOULD DO."
Before her appointment to Attorney General, Pamela Bondi also endorsed this principle. In March 2024, she wrote a section in a court filing titled, "Military Officers Are Required Not to Carry Out Unlawful Orders." Secretary Hegseth and Attorney General Bondi's statements of military law were correct. This bedrock tenet of military law that service members are required not to follow illegal orders is also among the first things taught to every service member at the inception of their service.
Senator Kelly's complaint filed in court today includes social media statements by Donald Trump saying that what Senator Kelly said is, quote, "punishable by death."
Leading off our discussion tonight is former Navy pilot Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. He's a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has done so far, and in my reading of the law, as your lawyer stated in this complaint, he has violated the law that he claims his action is based on.
Well, Lawrence, thank you for having me on. I want to commend you for the great summary of the lawsuit. And I also want to say, hey, I told these guys, I told Donald Trump and I told Pete Hegseth that I'm not backing down. I'm not going away. This is much bigger than me. I flew dozens of combat missions over Iraq and Kuwait, got shot at, nearly shot down multiple times. I flew in space on the space shuttle four times. I've served this country for 25 years. I did not expect that after all of that service, and then continuing my service in the United States Senate, that I would one day have to sue the Secretary of Defense for violating my constitutional rights, my rights of freedom of speech, but also due process and separation of powers' rights. But this is much bigger than me.
What I really worry about are the other veterans out there that don't have DON'T HAVE A PLATFORM LIKE I DO, DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO BE WITH THIS ADMINISTRATION IF THEY DECIDE TO SPEAK OUT? SO THAT'S REALLY THE REASON for my action today. I had to file this lawsuit because I need to be standing up for all Americans, not just myself.