California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted Monday his solidarity with Americans working for the federal government and resisting the Trump administration agenda.
We are whistleblowers, press, judges, legislators, cooks, teachers. We are #DeepState. We are the American people. https://t.co/Ns9ZcP4Ja6
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 6, 2017
Some on Twitter criticized Liu’s comment for lending credibility to the Trump administration’s claim that Obama administration holdovers are leaking classified information to the press, while others pointed to Lieu’s background as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves and that such a comment could get him into legal trouble. According to Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it says, “Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Following President Donald Trump’s tweet accusing former President Barack Obama of tapping Trump tower phone lines, Lieu has been criticizing Trump on Twitter. The California Democrat tweeted that if Trump is correct about the phone lines at Trump Tower being tapped, the president is “in trouble.”
Either @realDonaldTrump is paranoid like Nixon, or judge found probable cause of crime for #wiretap. Either way our President is in trouble.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 4, 2017