Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said that she is under federal investigation following her role in a video made by Democratic lawmakers in November, urging military members to “refuse illegal orders.”
Slotkin told The New York Times on Monday that the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, reached out to the Senate sergeant-at-arms to request an interview with the first-term senator or her private counsel. Pirro’s office told The Daily Wire that it neither confirms nor denies “the existence of an investigation.”
Slotkin, a former CIA officer, organized the video message to military members, which included five other Democratic lawmakers who are also veterans. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Jason Crow (D-CO) all appeared in Slotkin’s video and told military members, “This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution,” the Democrats added. “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders … you must refuse illegal orders.”
The Trump administration has referred to the group of Democrats in the video as the “Seditious Six,” arguing that their message is an attempt to undermine the commander-in-chief’s authority over the military. After the video was released, President Donald Trump suggested that it constituted “seditious behavior, punishable by death.” Trump later said that he was not threatening the Democrats with the death penalty, adding, “I think they’re in serious trouble. I would say they’re in serious trouble. I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death. That was seditious behavior.”
Sen. Kelly, a retired astronaut and naval officer, is currently under investigation by the War Department for his role in the “seditious video,” and War Secretary Pete Hegseth moved earlier this month to strip Kelly of his rank and retirement pay. Kelly filed a lawsuit against Hegseth on Monday, arguing that Hegseth’s action violates the First Amendment.
“Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to hold him—and this or any administration—accountable,” Kelly said. “His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted.”
Hegseth fired back, saying that Kelly is “worried and cranky.”
“’Captain’ Kelly knows exactly what he did, and that he will be held to account,” he added.
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