The FBI has requested interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a Social media video They are calling on U.S. military members to “defy illegal orders,” lawmakers said.
Tuesday’s statements came a day after the Pentagon said it was conducting a review Senator Mark Kellya U.S. Navy veteran and one of the six lawmakers charged with possible violations of military law.
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President Donald Trump has previously accused the lawmakers of sedition and said in a social media post that the crime was “punishable by DEATH.”
All six of them Democratic lawmakers People in the video served in the military or secret service.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, one of the six in the video, told reporters Tuesday that “the FBI’s counterterrorism division has sent a memo to members of Congress saying they appear to be opening an investigation into the six of us.”
Slotkin called it a “scare tactic” from Trump.
“Whether you agree with the video or not, the question to me is: Is this the appropriate response for a president of the United States to use the federal government as a weapon against those with whom he disagrees?” Slotkin said.
“Intimidation, harassment”
The lawmakers said their video statements accurately reflected U.S. law. American troops swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution, not the president, and are required by military rules to obey “any lawful general order or regulation.”
Other Democrats who appeared in the video released last week include U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, all military veterans.
“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” the four House Democrats said in a joint statement. “Yesterday the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants-at-Arms and requested interviews.”
They added that “no amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and respecting our Constitution.”
There was no immediate comment from Senator Kelly.
The Reuters news agency, citing a Justice Department official, reported that the FBI interviews were designed to determine “whether there is any wrongdoing and then move forward.”
The FBI is headed by Trump appointee Kash Patel.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth referred Kelly to the Navy secretary in a memo released Tuesday for “potentially unlawful comments” made in the video last week. Hegseth said he would like to receive a summary of the review’s outcome by Dec. 10.
Together, the Inquiries by the FBI and Pentagon represent an extraordinary escalation for federal law enforcement and military agencies that have traditionally shunned partisan combat. They also underscore the administration’s willingness to impose legal limits on its critics, even if they are sitting members of Congress.
“Fleety investigations”
The investigations also drew criticism from Republicans.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska criticized both requests on social media, saying it was reckless and completely wrong to accuse the lawmakers of “treason and sedition for rightly pointing out that military members can refuse illegal orders.”
“The Department of Defense and the FBI certainly have more important priorities than these frivolous investigations,” Murkowski wrote.
The lawmakers said they had no further information and the FBI did not clarify on what basis they were seeking the interviews.
Patel, the FBI director, in an interview with a reporter, described the FBI’s investigation as an “ongoing matter” and explained why he could not discuss details.
When asked about his reaction to the video, Patel said, “What’s going through my mind is the same thing that’s going through my mind: Is there a legitimate predicate for initiating an investigation and investigation or not? And that decision is made by the career agents and analysts here at the FBI.”
In the video, lawmakers said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws…our Constitution.” Kelly, who was a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut and then retiring with the rank of captain, told troops that “you can refuse illegal orders.”
The lawmaker did not mention any specific circumstances in the video.
At an event in Michigan on Tuesday, Slotkin noted that the Trump administration had ordered the military to blow up small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific that officials accused of carrying drugs, and that it had continued to try to station National Guard troops in U.S. cities despite some legal setbacks.
“It wasn’t that there was a single incident; it was the sheer volume of people coming to us and saying, ‘I’m worried. I’m going to be sent to Washington,’ or ‘I’m going to be sent to LA or Chicago, North Carolina, and I’m worried that I’m going to be asked to do something that I don’t know whether to do,'” Slotkin said. “So that’s where it came from.”
Troops, particularly uniformed commanders, have specific obligations to refuse unlawful orders when making such a decision.
Extensive case law also holds that mere compliance with orders, colloquially known as the “Nuremberg Defense,” which were unsuccessfully used by high-ranking Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler, does not absolve troops of their responsibilities.
