Mark Kelly fires back at Musk over 'traitor' accusation

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) hit back at tech billionaire Elon Musk after he called Kelly a "traitor" for visiting Ukraine and demanding the United States stand with Ukrainians in their ongoing war with Russia.

"Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do," he wrote on the social platform X on Monday in response to Musk's accusation.

"You are a traitor," Musk had written under a previous X post from Kelly in which the lawmaker had reflected on his trip to Ukraine over the weekend.

"What I saw proved to me we can't give up on the Ukrainian people," Kelly wrote in the post.

"Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway to Putin," he added.

Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot, toured a military hospital and interacted with Red Cross personnel during his visit to Ukraine. It was his third visit to the country since 2023.

In a detailed thread on X following the trip, the Arizona Democrat shared his thoughts about the war, saying President Trump is trying to weaken Ukraine.

Kelly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and said Putin targets hospitals routinely.

"If Putin gains ground, he won't agree to a ceasefire and will eventually threaten a NATO ally, and this puts American troops and the American people at risk," he added.

This is not the first time Musk and Kelly have had a heated argument on social media.

Last month, Kelly and his brother, Scott Kelly, both retired astronauts, called out Musk over his attacks on another astronaut on X.

“Hey @ElonMusk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us,” the senator wrote on X in response to Musk’s post calling Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen “an idiot.”

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