Two Democrats who participated in a video that urged members of the military and the intelligence community not to follow illegal orders are refusing to comply with an investigation by the Justice Department.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said in a post Thursday that she sent a letter informing Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, that she would not comply with the Justice Department's inquiries or their request that she sit for an interview about the video.
Slotkin said the Trump administration is "purposely using physical and legal intimidation to get me to shut up."
"But more importantly, they’re using that intimidation to deter others from speaking out against their administration. The intimidation is the point, and I’m not going to go along with that," she said in her post.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., said in her own post Thursday that she would also refuse to comply with the Justice Department's "request for me to submit to a voluntary interview" about the video.
"I will not be doing that," Houlahan said. She continued, "What is happening now crosses a line when the power of the federal government is turned toward intimidating people."
Six members of Congress, all of whom served in either the military or intelligence services, posted a 90-second video in November telling members of the military to refuse illegal orders, spurring a series of social media posts from President Donald Trump condemning the move.
Slotkin, Houlahan and Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., all reported last month that federal prosecutors had contacted them about the video.
Asked about the lawmakers' defiance of the Justice Department's probe, Pirro's office declined to comment.
The Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Slotkin said her letter urged Bondi and Pirro “to retain their records on this case, in case I decide to sue for infringement of my constitutional rights.”
She said Thursday that Trump's continued social media posts about the six lawmakers who posted the video led to "threats [that] went through the roof to myself, my family, my staff."
Trump blasted the lawmakers after the video was released, accusing them of “seditious behavior” and saying their action could be “punishable by death.” The next day, he said on conservative Brian Kilmeade’s radio show that he was “not threatening death” toward the lawmakers, while adding, “I think they’re in serious trouble.”
Crow, Goodlander, Houlahan and Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., said in a joint statement in November that the FBI had contacted the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms requesting interviews with the lawmakers involved in the video, adding that Trump was “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress.”
Crow's office told NBC News that Pirro's office reached out to him in early January seeking an interview about the video.
“Donald Trump called for my arrest, prosecution, and execution—all because I said something he didn’t like. Now he’s pressuring his political appointees to harass me for daring to speak up and hold him accountable,” Crow said in a statement in January.
Crow's office also pointed to an interview with CNN earlier this week in which the congressman said the administration was attempting "to threaten, harass and intimidate political opponents, and I’m treating it as such."
Calling the allegations "meritless" and "baseless," Crow said Trump is "trying to make an example out of me" and others in Congress in order to tamp down potential protest and dissent from "everyday Americans."
"But he has chosen the wrong people," he said. "We will not bullied, we will not be cowed and we will not back down. We’re going to hold our ground, we’re going to treat this harassment and intimidation for what it is, and we’re going to continue to stand up, speak up and dissent against what is a lawless, rogue presidency."
Goodlander posted on X on Jan. 14, “It is sad and telling that simply stating a bedrock principle of American law caused the President of the United States to threaten violence against me, and it is downright dangerous that the Justice Department is targeting me for doing my job."
She said the "threats will not deter, distract, intimidate, or silence me."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led an effort to censure and reduce Sen. Mark Kelly's retirement rank as a Navy captain because of his involvement in the video. Kelly, D-Ariz., is awaiting a ruling from a federal judge on his lawsuit against Hegseth and the Defense Department, which called their actions “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
Kelly is the only lawmaker in the video who retired from the military, meaning he can be recalled for an urgent need, like a war or a national emergency, but also to face court-martial for misconduct.
