"You are not disagreeing that the video at issue that is the fulcrum of this case, Senator Kelly never says the words disobey lawful orders, right?
"Not in isolation, expressing —" the DOJ lawyer began to answer, before agreeing the judge was "correct.".
All along, Kelly said "you can refuse illegal orders" referred to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and Pillard picked up on it.
Pillard and Pan dug deeper and suggested the government's case boils down to Hegseth's say-so that Kelly really meant "disobey lawful orders.".
The Secretary has made that inference, and it's one that the district court didn't engage with," the DOJ lawyer stated.
"I mean, here we have Senator Kelly saying, don't obey illegal orders, and that's completely different what happened in Levy.
"The secretary says, you are telling people to disobey lawful orders when centrally, explicitly said you don't have to obey illegal orders. »