ABC OMITS Hegseth Censure of Sen. Mark Kelly Over ‘Seditious Six’ Video

Jorge Bonilla
January 6th, 2026 1:13 AM

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a letter of censure to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) that initiates a review process of his retirement rank and pay, as a result of his role in the shameful “Seditious Six” video that sought to undermine troop morale and good order by instigating them to disobey unspecified “illegal orders” such as the ongoing boat strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Of the major evening broadcast network newscasts, ABC World News Tonight was the only one to omit this story.

Watch CBS’s report in its entirety, as aired on the Dokou-pilled Evening News:

CBS EVENING NEWS

1/5/26

6:44 PM

TONY DOKOUPIL: All right. To other news. As you just heard from Jill- to other news now, to…Governor Walz. No. We’re going to do Mark Kelly. First day -- first day, big problems here. Are we going to Kelly here or are we going to go to Jonah Kaplan? We’re doing Mark Kelly. Possibly demoted from his retired rank of Captain in the Navy. Hegseth issued what’s known as a letter of censure for the Arizona Democrat over his participation in the video that called on service members to defy illegal orders without specifying which orders he had in mind. Hegseth called what the former combat pilot and astronaut did an act of sedition.

Dokoupil recovered from his early flub and went on to deliver the most complete brief on the matter. Dokoupil notes that the “illegal orders” are never specified in the video, and that Hegseth considers the video to be an act of sedition. 

The grade determination proceedings outlined in Hegseth’s statement consist of a board coming together, made up of admirals in this case, to determine the last grade in which Kelly served satisfactorily, without being subject to disciplinary action such as a letter of reprimand or censure entered into his personnel file. The officer is then allowed to retire at that last satisfactory grade below original retirement grade. 

None of this is made clear to viewers. We don’t know if Dokoupil’s brief would have included any of this information were it not for time consumed by the flub.

NBC, however, makes no such effort. Their Nightly News brief is tacked on to the back of the report on Tim Walz dropping out of his reelection bid as governor of Minnesota. The brief makes no such effort to include any context, settling instead on casting Kelly as a victim.

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS

1/5/25

6:45 PM

TOM LLAMAS: Ryan Nobles joins us now live. And Ryan, I know you're also tracking another major headline, this time on Democratic Senator Mark Kelly? 

RYAN NOBLES: Yeah, that's right, Tom. Secretary Pete Hegseth is censuring Sen. Kelly for a video where he warns active duty military not to follow illegal orders. The censure begins a process that could impact Kelly's retirement rank and pay. Kelly said that he would, quote: “fight this with everything I’ve got.” Tom.  

LLAMAS: All right, Ryan. Our thanks to you.

That’s it- no mention of Hegseth’s statement or of anything else. It’s really a miracle that nobody said “retribution” during these briefs, which speaks to the seriousness of the actions. 

ABC, of course, failed to mention the letter of censure. This runs contrary to their endless hype of the video in furtherance of the “Don’t Give Up the Ship” op intended to sow dissension in the ranks. ABC did find time, though, to cover the ritual firing of NFL coaches at the conclusion of the regular season known as Black Monday. 

We are reminded yet again that if a story isn’t easily frameable as Resistance slop, it isn’t likely to air on ABC News.

 

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