WASHINGTON

US Sen. Mark Kelly said Monday that threats against him and his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, have surged since President Donald Trump called for the execution of six Democratic lawmakers after they urged military service members to "refuse unlawful orders.”

"I’m no stranger — Gabby and I are no stranger to political violence. We get a lot of threats already. She continues to get threats. She has threats on her life, more so today, because of what Donald Trump said about me 10 days ago," Kelly told reporters.

Kelly said he is not going to get into details about his personal security.

"We take these threats very seriously. And I take, you know, the threats from this president seriously."

"How many times in our country's history have you heard a president of the United States say that members of the Senate and the House should be hanged and executed? I mean, I can't think of one. Those words carry a lot of weight. The number of threatening calls that we get into our office have skyrocketed, and they were very graphic,” he added.

Trump, in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform in November, demanded that Sens. Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, as well as Reps. Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander and Chris Deluzio, be arrested and tried after they released a video urging US service members and intelligence personnel to disobey orders that would violate the law.

"Seditious behavior, punishable by death!" Trump said.

Asked whether he might pursue legal action against Trump, Kelly said he had not considered it.

"I think what he said about us is dangerous. It's ridiculous. It is a violation of our constitutional rights as Americans and our rights as senators to do our job, and he's trying to intimidate us, but I have not considered that, not at this point," he said.

Kelly also criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying Trump had surrounded himself with people “who will do whatever he says with no question.”

“Trump and Hegseth care more about publicity than they do about the rule of law,” he added.

Hegseth referred a review of recent comments by Kelly, a retired Navy captain, to the Department of the Navy, requesting a briefing on the findings by Dec. 10, according to an internal memorandum released by the Pentagon.

"President Trump has crossed the line, and this time, it's not going to work. I will not be intimidated by this president. I am not going to be silenced by this president or the people around him, because I've given too much in service to this country to back down to this guy," Kelly said.

Trump said Kelly and "the group of Unpatriotic Politicians were wrong to do what they did, and they know it!"

"I hope the people looking at them are not duped into thinking that it’s OK to openly and freely get others to disobey the President of the United States!" he said on Truth Social.