Reports: Kelly Might Have Disclosed Classified 411 to Strike Back at Hegseth Over “Illegal Orders” Video

A pair of news stories about the Pentagon inspector general’s (IG) classified report about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s inadvertent disclosure of classified war plans over the Signal app suggest that far-left Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona might have leaked information in the report to the media.

The stories appear in The Wall Street Journal and on the CNN website. The Journal identified Kelly as the source in its story about the IG’s report. But CNN called the report classified, and cited anonymous sources.

If Kelly leaked classified information, he violated federal law.

Kelly has been fuming about Hegseth since the War Department suggested that Kelly, a retired Navy aviator, might be recalled to active duty to be court-martialed for the video in which he and other far-left Democrats urged military service members to disobey “illegal orders.”

The Stories

“Pentagon’s Signalgate Review Finds Hegseth Violated Defense Department Regulations,” the Journal’s headline reports. But a “Department watchdog also states as Pentagon chief, Hegseth has the authority to declassify information.”

The first two paragraphs of the story identify Kelly.

“A Pentagon watchdog has found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated some of the department’s regulations when he shared sensitive information from his cellphone on Signal earlier this year, according to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz),” the newspaper reported:

However, the Defense Department Inspector General also concluded that as Pentagon chief, Hegseth has the authority to declassify Defense Department information, Kelly said Wednesday after viewing the watchdog report the department sent to Congress. That suggests the defense secretary didn’t break the law. 

“They very clearly stated he should not be using his cellphone and putting … this kind of information on an unclassified system,” Kelly said in an interview.

GOP Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri also saw the report, the Journal continued, and called it a “nothing burger.”

The question is what Kelly revealed, given CNN’s reports.

Its headline was, no surprise, harder hitting: “Watchdog finds Hegseth risked endangering troops by sharing sensitive war plans on Signal, sources say.”

“Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information, which could have endangered American troops and mission objectives, when he used Signal in March of this year to share highly-sensitive attack plans targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to four sources familiar with the contents of a classified Inspector General report,” the hate-Trump network reported:

The repercussions of Hegseth’s action, two sources told CNN, are less clear since the IG concluded that the defense secretary has the authority to declassify information and Hegseth asserted he made an operational decision in the moment to share that information, though there is no documentation of such a decision.

The two stories led a former staffer for GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to accuse Kelly of leaking classified information.

“In an effort to own Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over Signalgate, looks like Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly leaked classified information to the Wall Street Journal,” Steve Guest wrote on X:

Last I checked, leaking classified info was bad. Will Sen. Kelly face any consequences?

Per CNN, the IG report was classified.

Late yesterday, Kelly discussed the report during an interview and lambasted Hegseth.

“I’ve been saying it all week: Pete Hegseth is the most incompetent Secretary of Defense we’ve ever had. He shows that every day, and the new Signalgate report just confirms it,” Kelly wrote on X.

Ignore Illegal Orders

Kelly’s apparent discussion of the classified report might be a nothing burger as well, which raises the question of why Kelly became a source for the Journal.

Answer: Kelly struck back at Hegseth because of his and the War Department’s statements about the video in which Kelly participated. Kelly and five other far-left Democrats instructed soldiers, sailors, and airmen that they “must refuse illegal orders.” Strangely, the instruction did not include Marines.

Posted November 18, the video invited a hurricane of criticism. President Donald Trump accused the six Democrats of sedition, noting that one penalty for the crime is “death.”

The War Department announced on X that it had received “serious allegations” against Kelly, and cited 18 U.S. Code 2387 — “activities affecting armed forces generally.” Its language is clear, and applies to the following:

[Anyone who] advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or [who] distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States.

Over the War Department’s admonition, Hegseth targeted Kelly.

“The video made by the ‘Seditious Six’ was despicable, reckless, and false. Encouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their Commanders undermines every aspect of ‘good order and discipline’,” he wrote:

Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion — which only puts our warriors in danger.

Five of the six individuals in that video do not fall under @DeptofWar jurisdiction (one is CIA and four are former military but not “retired”, so they are no longer subject to UCMJ). However, Mark Kelly (retired Navy Commander) is still subject to UCMJ — and he knows that.

The UCMJ is the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Retired officers also denounced Kelly, as did Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer.

Appearing on Meet the Press almost two weeks after the video, Kelly still did not identify any illegal orders handed down by the Trump administration or senior military officials. Those officers would know an illegal order if they saw one.

Kelly’s only defense in encouraging insubordination, it would seem, is declaring Hegseth “incompetent” and “unqualified.”