Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) defended a recent video — during which she encouraged members of the military to question orders in real time — by tossing those same service members under the bus.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, had joined five military veterans in making the video that circulated a few weeks earlier. In it, they called on service members to remember that they had the right and the responsibility to refuse to act on unlawful orders — all while heavily implying that such orders either would be or had already been given by President Donald Trump or War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
During a recent interview, Slotkin claimed that she’d only made the video because an overwhelming number of military members had reached out to ask about it.
WATCH:
Elissa Slotkin claims Democrats made the ‘illegal orders’ video because a slew of military personnel were coming to them with concerns for months:
“I don’t know if this is legal. I don’t know if I’d be held accountable later after this administration. I can’t get a straight… pic.twitter.com/Fe2AMPvMRg
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 8, 2025
“I mean, we made that video three weeks ago or whatever it was, certainly not thinking that the president would go high and right as we say at the Pentagon on it like that,” Slotkin said, suggesting that Trump’s response — to a video telling service members to potentially ignore his orders — had been the one thing that was out of line.
“There was so many people coming to us who were on active duty, recent veterans, family members of service members, who were coming to us individually and saying two things,” she continued. “One, ‘I’m concerned I’m going to be sent in uniform to an American city — you know, like L.A., Chicago, Memphis — and I’m going to be asked to do things I either don’t think are legal, or I’m not trained for, and what do I do?'”
“And then this fall, it really turned, and it became a lot of people who were involved in the operations around the Caribbean asking those same things,” she continued. “‘I don’t know if this is legal? I don’t know if I’d be held accountable later after this administration. I can’t get a straight answer about whether this is legal or not. What do you think we should do?'”
“We were hearing that for months,” she added, “So that’s why we made the video.”
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who also participated in making the video, is facing additional scrutiny for his role since he is the only one who is a retired service member and therefore still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
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