By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday decried the reported unsuccessful attempt by the Justice Department of President Donald Trump’s administration to indict them after they urged members of the military to not comply with unlawful orders.
“Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a Grand Jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law,” Democratic U.S. Senator Elise Slotkin said on X.
“Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed,” she said.
The U.S. Justice Department had no immediate comment.
NBC News and the New York Times reported late on Tuesday that federal prosecutors tried and failed to secure an indictment in connection with a video featuring six Democratic lawmakers urging members of the military and intelligence communities not to comply with unlawful orders.
“This is an outrageous abuse of power by Donald Trump and his lackies. It wasn’t enough for (Pentagon chief) Pete Hegseth to censure me and threaten to demote me, now it appears they tried to have me charged with a crime — all because of something I said that they didn’t like,” Senator Mark Kelly said.
Late last year, Trump assailed the Democratic lawmakers who told members of the U.S. military they must refuse any illegal orders. Trump called them traitors who could face execution.
The video from the Democratic lawmakers came during criticism of Trump’s decisions to deploy the National Guard in U.S. cities and authorize lethal strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs from Latin America.
The six Democratic lawmakers in the video included Senator Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Iraq war veteran, Senator Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy veteran, as well as U.S. Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan.
Trump has faced criticism from rights experts over what they categorize as his administration’s targeting of political opponents and his administration’s deployment of federal agents and National Guard troops in cites governed by Democrats. Trump’s attempts have faced legal challenges and street protests.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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