1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

Declaration of Treasonous Plans On September 30, 2025, Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth addressed the entirety of US military leadership to explicitly declare their plans to execute a “war from within” the United States. They made this declaration of war to the military leadership they expect to execute the war. Peter B. Hegseth further requested that military leaders with the integrity to resist unlawful orders resign, saying “if the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.“ [1] In remarks subsequent to Peter B. Hegseth’s speech, Donald J. Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States, explicitly tied this war from within to American cities run by the opposition party, saying “You know, the Democrats run most of the cities that are in bad shape… what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”[2] Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have illegally deployed the National Guard in an effort to deny and violate the right of the People of the United States to freedom of speech, and of assembly, and to petition the government for redress of grievances, embarking on a wide-ranging censorship campaign to punish his political opponents, chill opposition, and retaliate against constitutionally protected speech, association, and expression, including protest [3] and political opposition. On October 5, 2025 Donald J. Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States, remarked to an audience of naval cadets “[W]e have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats.” [4] Treasonous Actions The clear and unambiguous interpretation of these words – that the President of the United States and his Secretary of Defense intend to wage war against American cities, American citizens, and their political opposition – is borne out by the administration’s actions. Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have illegally [5] federalized and deployed the National Guard over the objections of the Governors of California, Oregon and Illinois, who have not requested any federal or military assistance, [6,7] usurping the power and responsibility to maintain order and exercising police power as vested in the State by the Constitution of the United States. Further, by forcibly deploying the National Guard from one state (Texas and California) to another state (Illinois and Oregon) over the objections of the officials tasked with maintaining law and order by the Constitution, [8] Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have pitted State against State, violated State sovereignty, and threatened the system of federalism established by the Constitution of the United States. Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have relentlessly pursued their goal of levying war against the United States by disregarding injunctions [9] issued by the courts and attempting to circumvent the courts entirely [10] to pursue their illegal federalization of the National Guard and forcible deployment to States. Donald J. Trump has further delighted in his effort to wage war upon the United States, posting, in his official capacity as President of the United States, an image of the Chicago skyline in flames captioned: “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” and including a depiction of himself in the image of the fictitious warmonger character Lt. Col. Kilgore from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The post was titled “Chipocalypse Now.” [8] Abraham Lincoln’s prescient words from 1858 echo to the present: a house divided against itself cannot stand. The actions of the President and the Secretary of Defense constitute the levying of war against the United States. The actions of the President and the Secretary of Defense constitute Treason. Treason Warrants Impeachment and Removal In summary, Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have committed an overt act of Treason by levying war against the United States in full view of the public. They have sought to jeopardize the union of these United States by setting the States against one another in pursuit of absolute, unchecked, despotic power. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that they will remain a threat to the American people, democracy, the Constitution and these United States if allowed to remain in office. Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have betrayed their respective trusts as President of the United States and Secretary of Defense, abused the power of their offices, violated the sovereignty of the States and the system of constitutional federalism, sought to provoke and escalate civil disorder, and imperiled the most fundamental principles of civil-military relations in the United States. Among the grievances against King George III in the Declaration of Independence is the following charge: “He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.” The same can now be said of Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth. Wherefore, by such conduct Donald J. Trump and Peter B. Hegseth have committed Treason by levying war against the United States, they thus warrant impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. Additional Context For Our Readers: As described in the State of Illinois and City of Chicago v. Trump, Noem Hegseth, and Driscoll, “Secretary Hegseth, on October 4th, invoked 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to federalize and bring under Department of Defense control up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, over the objection of the Governor of Illinois (“Federalization Order”), and, on October 5th, another up to 400 National Guard from the State of Texas to deploy into Chicago (“Texas Mobilization Order”). […] The Texas Mobilization Order was an undated memorandum from defendant Hegseth that, similar to that issued the prior weekend in Oregon, referenced the June 7 Presidential memorandum that had been used as support for the federalization of California’s National Guard months prior.” References: Transcript, “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Addresses General and Flag Officers in Quantico VA,” war.gov, 30 Sep 2025 Transcript, “Donald Trump Addresses Military Leadership in Quantico VA”, Roll Call, 30 Sep 2025 Masterson M, “Chicago Journalists, Protestors, Suing Trump Administration Over Alleged First Amendment Violations at Broadview ICE Facility,” WTTW News, 6 Oct 2025 “President Trump Delivers Remarks at Naval Station Norfolk,” Forbes Breaking News 5 Oct 2025 Woodward A, “Trump illegally sent National Guard to Los Angeles, Federal Judge Rules,” Independent, 2 Sept 2025 Siedel J, “Illinois sues Trump over National Guard deployment,“ Chicago Sun Times, 6 Oct 2025 Gerstein, J, “Newsom joins Oregon’s suit after Trump sends California National Guard to Oregon,” Politico, 5 Oct 2025 State of Illinois and City of Chicago v. Trump, Noem, Hegseth, and Driscoll, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, filed 6 Oct 2025 CBSNews, “Oregon Judge temporarily blocks deployment of the National Guard to Portland”, 5 Oct 2025 Hubler S, Griffin A, Schmitt E, “Trump sends California National Guard Troops to Portland Ore.” 6 Oct 2025