Feds Investigate Slotkin Over Video on Illegal Orders

Sen. Elissa Slotkin says she's now the target of a federal inquiry over a video telling US troops to refuse unlawful commands. The Michigan Democrat and former CIA officer says she learned of the investigation when the office of Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia and a Trump ally, emailed the Senate's sergeant-at-arms seeking an interview with Slotkin or her personal lawyer, per the New York Times. Pirro's office declined to confirm or deny any inquiry, and it remains unclear what potential offense prosecutors are examining.

The video, organized by Slotkin and five other Dem lawmakers who are military veterans—Sen. Mark Kelly and Reps. Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow, per Forbes—argues that "you can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders," a bedrock concept in military law that Trump and his aides have denounced as "seditious," per Mediaite. Slotkin frames the inquiry as part of a broader effort by the president and his circle to wield the government against perceived opponents. "Facts matter little, but the threat matters quite a bit," she tells the Times, citing legal jeopardy, harassment of staff, and risks to her family.

The investigation follows other moves by the administration and its allies, including a criminal probe opened by Pirro last year into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and recent administrative action by the Pentagon against Kelly, a retired Navy captain who also appeared in the video and is now suing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The clash comes after months in which Slotkin has increasingly warned that American democracy is under strain. In her party's response to President Trump's 2025 State of the Union, she invoked her experience in Iraq, saying she'd seen democracies "flicker out" and systems "rigged" to keep leaders in power.

Slotkin later suggested in a Brookings Institution speech that Trump could use force or legal tools against domestic adversaries, arguing that he aims to ensure that "he and his ilk never have to give up power." After Trump responded to the lawmakers' video by calling it "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!," Slotkin says her office was flooded with threats, Capitol Police put her under round-the-clock protection, and her dad in Michigan was the target of a swatting call.