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Democrats Say F.B.I. Is Investigating Them Over Illegal Orders Video

November 25, 2025
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Democrats Say F.B.I. Is Investigating Them Over Illegal Orders Video

The six Democratic members of Congress who recorded a video informing troops that they could refuse illegal orders said on Tuesday that they were being investigated by the F.B.I.

The group, made up of veterans of the military and the C.I.A., said the bureau had contacted the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms requesting interviews with them.

“President Trump is using the F.B.I. as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” the four House members, all military veterans, who took part in the video said in a joint statement. “No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.”

The investigation is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to seek retribution against the president’s perceived political enemies. It comes one day after the Pentagon said it was investigating Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, for his participation in the same video.

The F.B.I. inquiry is being conducted by the bureau’s counterterrorism division, according to a statement by Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who served as a C.I.A. analyst and organized the video.

“The president directing the F.B.I. to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place,” she wrote in the statement. “He believes in weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies and does not believe laws apply to him or his cabinet.”

The four House members who took part in the video are Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.

The F.B.I. declined to comment on whether it was investigating the lawmakers.

Mr. Kelly is the only member of the group being investigated by the Pentagon for a possible court martial. As a retired naval officer, he is subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and could be recalled to active duty and disciplined. The other four military veterans did not serve long enough to retire and therefore do not receive a pension or fall under military law.

Legal experts have dismissed the investigations as a transparent attempt to seek vengeance with no grounding in the law. As part of their training, U.S. troops are told that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders from their chain of command.

The lawmakers did not refer to a particular order that they viewed as illegal. But Mr. Kelly and others in the video earlier raised concerns about the fate of U.S. troops involved in the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

Some, including Ms. Slotkin, have expressed concerns that Mr. Trump might deploy active-duty U.S. military troops to American cities to crack down on or even shoot at protesters.

This summer, Ms. Slotkin reminded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that one of his predecessors, Mark T. Esper, wrote in his memoir that he had been asked by Mr. Trump during his first term why the military could not “just shoot” protesters in Washington in the legs.

Mr. Hegseth on Tuesday appeared to be focused on other matters, such as a picture that Mr. Kelly had posted on social media of his military awards.

“In combat, I had a missile blow up next to my jet and flew through anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets,” Mr. Kelly wrote above the photo. Mr. Hegseth replied a day later: “Your medals are out of order & rows reversed. When/if you are recalled to active duty, it’ll start with a uniform inspection.”

Greg Jaffe covers the Pentagon and the U.S. military for The Times.

The post Democrats Say F.B.I. Is Investigating Them Over Illegal Orders Video appeared first on New York Times.

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