The White House held a press briefing Thursday to reassure the American public that President Donald Trump does not, in fact, want to execute members of Congress, despite spending his morning posting about how several Democratic lawmakers should face charges for "seditious behavior, punishable by DEATH."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized that Trump's calls for Democratic lawmakers to be "arrested and put on trial" for behavior he described as potentially worthy of capital punishment were simply the president exercising his constitutional right to casually suggest treason charges against sitting senators and representatives who are also military veterans.
"Let me be absolutely clear," Leavitt said, her voice steady and professional. "When the president said these members of Congress committed seditious behavior and reshared posts calling for them to be hanged, he was merely engaging in normal political discourse about how their actions could be 'punishable by death.' At no point did he express a desire to actually follow through with any of that."
The clarification came after Trump posted multiple times about six Democratic lawmakers—all military veterans—who released a video reminding service members they could refuse illegal orders, a statement the president apparently found worthy of capital charges.
Trump also reshared social media posts responding to the lawmakers that called for them to be hanged, which administration officials stress should not be interpreted as the president endorsing those specific suggestions, but rather simply amplifying them to his millions of followers for informational purposes only.
"The president believes very strongly in the First Amendment," Leavitt continued, "which is why he should be allowed to repeatedly post about hanging his political opponents without anyone assuming he means it. That would be ridiculous."
