The FBI, under Director Kash Patel, is seeking to interview the six former military members of Congress who produced a video last week urging current service members to refuse unlawful orders. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The FBI wants to interview six military veteran Democratic lawmakers President Donald Trump said should be jailed over a video they produced last week reminding service members of their Constitutional oath and responsibility to reject illegal orders.
Five of the lawmakers confirmed in statements on Tuesday that the FBI was seeking to speak with them about the video.
“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania said in a joint statement Tuesday. “No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan specified that the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division had reached out to the lawmakers.
“The President directing the FBI to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place. He believes in weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies and does not believe laws apply to him or his Cabinet,” Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official, said in a separate statement published to Bluesky.
The lawmakers’ statements accused Trump of using his federal law enforcement to harass and intimate critics. On Monday, the Department of Defense announced it was investigating Sen. Mark Kelly, the sixth Democrat to appear in the video and the only one currently subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The video, published on Nov. 18, caused a stir in Washington as the lawmakers, all former members of the military or intelligence communities, spoke directly to active-duty service members, telling them their oath to uphold the Constitution means they must refuse illegal orders.
“No one has to carry out orders that violate the law,” Slotkin states in the code.
“Or our Constitution,” Houlahan, former Air Force, adds.
The video was produced as National Guardsmen have been deployed to various Democratic-led cities to aid federal immigration law enforcement as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants.
And amid a military buildup near Venezuela, the Trump administration has killed dozens of people in more than 20 attacks in international waters of the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean on accusations that they were shipping drugs to the United States. The attacks have drawn domestic and international condemnation, with U.N. experts saying they amount to extrajudicial killings and the president of Colombia accusing Trump of murder.
Trump, in a social media post, accused the six Democrats of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL” and said each should be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.”
During a press conference in Inkster, Mich., on Tuesday, Slotkin said the video was produced in response to concerns they’ve heard from both uniformed and veteran service members about actions they may be asked to take in connection to the deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities as well as the attacks in the Caribbean.
“That’s where the video came from,” she said.
She added that in the wake of Trump’s repeated comments, they have received hundreds if not thousands of death threats. A bomb threat was made to the home where she lives with her family, who have also been harassed, she said.
Trump’s attempts at intimidation will not deter her or the other five Democrats from using their free speech rights, she said. Slotkin said Trump’s actions against the lawmakers are in line with how he’s used the federal government against universities, pro-Palestinian protesters and other perceived enemies.
“If he’s going to use the FBI against members of Congress, what would he do to average citizens who don’t have that elected cover?” she asked.
The Trump administration and Republicans have argued the video encourages military members to ignore or refuse legitimate orders.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is one of the few GOP lawmakers to publicly resist the investigations into her Democratic colleagues. She specifically defended Kelly, a retired combat pilot in the Air Force and astronaut.
“To accuse him and other lawmakers of treason and sedition for rightfully pointing out that service members can refuse illegal orders is reckless and flat-out wrong,” Murkowski, of Alaska, said in a statement Tuesday night.
“The Department of Defense and FBI surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation.”
