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Trump criticism leads to rare criminal charges for Air Force officer who called for impeachment

  • Maj. Jason Watson was criminally charged under the UCMJ for "contemptuous" remarks about President Trump and related disobedience/unbecoming-officer counts after protesting in uniform at the Capitol and again criticizing Trump on CNN โ€” the rare Article 88 charges draw attention.
  • He was arrested twice, is reportedly being held in pretrial confinement (his attorney says largely in solitary for safety), and prosecutors say he violated rules banning overtly partisan activity while in uniform.
  • The case could be precedent-setting โ€” contempt-of-officials charges are seldom used (only a couple convictions since 1951) and may require an Article 32 hearing to decide if his comments are protected criticism or punishable contempt.
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