U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro quickly denounced the president's comments

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at a small group of Democratic veteran lawmakers that included U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, calling them “seditious” and saying their behavior was “punishable by death.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, Gov. Josh Shapiro and others quickly denounced the violent rhetoric, which the president used to respond to a video in which the lawmakers urged the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders” from the Trump administration.

Two of the six Democrats in the video are Pennsylvanians — Mr. Deluzio, who represents Beaver and parts of Allegheny counties, and U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who represents parts of Chester and Berks counties. In the video, they and the rest of the group told officers to follow the law at a time when Trump’s directives were “pitting our military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”

Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

He followed up with another post reading, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also called for them to be arrested and reposted another Truth Social user who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”

Mr. Deluzio, of Fox Chapel, said in a response video that he refused to be intimidated. “Today, Donald Trump called for my death,” he said. “He called for the arrest and the death of me and several of my colleagues... He didn’t want to hear a basic lesson that we know about our Constitution, about the oath we all take when we serve, whether in Congress or your first day out of boot camp.”

He also joined Ms. Houlahan and the other Democrats — U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow and Maggie Goodlander — in a separate joint statement saying they would not be deterred by the threats.