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Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., sided with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in lifting the moratorium on the helicopter crew flying over the Kid Rock mansion in Nashville over the weekend and said he did not want to see the pilots punished.
“Thank you Kid Rock,” Hegseth said posted on X Tuesday afternoon. “The suspension of American pilots has been lifted. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on folks.” US Army aircrew have previously been suspended pending an investigation into Saturday’s helicopter crash.
MS NOW host Willie Geist asked Kelly, a veteran flight attendant, to respond to Hegseth’s move on Wednesday’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m not a fan of Kid Rock. You know, I – at the same time, I mean, I don’t see why we’re going to punish these guys,” Kelly said. “Some, you know, young pilots — whether it’s Apache or there were times, you know, I did things in airplanes that maybe weren’t the smartest thing to do.”
FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOJ OVER DEMOCRATIC CONFLICT
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks to members of the media outside the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, March 19, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Kelly told Geist that he disagreed with Hegseth on many points, but said the pilots should not be punished.
“So, I – and generally I don’t agree with Pete Hegseth, you know, on anything, and I don’t agree with his posts. He should let the Army deal with this,” said Kelly. “But I would hope that guys, you know, doing something like that — that’s just kind of a dumb thing, flying around, you know, people’s homes, even if it’s Kid Rock, they know they shouldn’t be doing that.”
“But I will not like to see them punished,” he continued. “I mean, these are patriotic people who serve their country and risk their lives.”
BLESSING BLACK FIRE IS BACK ON DEMOCRATS OVER ‘DISTURBING’ VIDEO ENCOURAGING FACES TO IGNORE ‘LAWFUL’ ORDERS
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)
The Department of Defense pointed Fox News Digital to Hegseth’s original statement on X announcing that the suspension had been lifted.
Kelly and Hegseth traded barbs a few months ago after the Democratic senator participated in a video — along with other Democratic lawmakers — in which they urged members of the military to refuse to carry out “illegal” orders under the Trump administration.
Kelly sued Hegseth and the Department of the Army in January for attempting to demote him and reduce his retirement pay for his participation in the video.
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Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks to members of the media outside the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The suit, filed in Washington DC, names Hegseth, the Navy, the Department of Defense – now renamed the Department of the Army – and Secretary of the Army John Phelan as defendants.
