Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday denounced the Trump administration’s failed attempt to criminally prosecute six lawmakers for posting a video warning active-duty service members that they are not obligated to follow illegal orders.
The video posted in November sparked anger from President Trump. “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he wrote in a post on his social media site.
Within days, federal investigators began looking into the video. The move to indict the lawmakers, which a federal grand jury in Washington rejected on Tuesday, outraged Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Lawyers for Representative Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and a former Army Ranger, sent a letter to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on Wednesday warning the Trump administration that any further effort to pursue the “baseless allegations” against the congressman would be met with legal action.
“We’ve been very clear about our position and that it needs to stop,” Mr. Crow said during a news conference on Capitol Hill. “If it doesn’t stop, then we’ll take all necessary actions.”
Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, has already taken legal action, asking a federal judge to block the Defense Department from disciplining him for his statements in the video. Secretary of State Pete Hegseth censured the senator, who is a retired Navy captain and former astronaut, and has initiated a military review that could result in a reduction of his retirement rank and pension.
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former C.I.A. analyst and the organizer of the online video, has similarly threatened to sue the administration for violating her right to free speech.
Democrats have called on their Republican colleagues to join them in condemning the effort to prosecute the lawmakers for restating the law.
“I say to my Republican colleagues, if the executive branch can merely attempt to prosecute members of the legislative branch for simply exercising free speech, that is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem, it is a constitutional crisis,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader.
But so far, Republicans have been largely silent.
The lawmakers who participated in the video said Wednesday they were disappointed by the lack of response from the other side of the aisle.
“I still haven’t had one Republican colleague say anything, and that is enormously disappointing to me,” said Representative Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, a former Air Force officer, referring to her fellow members of the House.
“They tried to incarcerate two of us,” said Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, referring to his Senate colleagues who participated in the video. “I’m not sure that the United States Senate can survive this if we do not have Republicans standing up for our most basic principles.”
Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters on Wednesday that he had not seen the indictment, but rejected the idea that Mr. Trump was weaponizing the Justice Department. He said that it was “dangerous” for the six lawmakers to post a video “effectively telling members of the military to defy orders.”
“Should they be sent to jail? Probably not,” Mr. Johnson said. “But we need to call it out as being wildly inappropriate.”
The office of Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The six Democrats, including Representative Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, said on Wednesday that they would not be intimidated by threats of prosecution.
“They tried to throw us in prison,” said Mr. Deluzio, a Navy veteran, “for saying things they don’t like.” But “no one up here is going to be intimidated,” he said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Ms. Slotkin said the failed indictment was just the latest example of Mr. Trump’s weaponizing the Justice Department against his political enemies.
“This is an authoritarian playbook that many of us have watched play out abroad over and over and over again, except now we’re seeing it in the United States,” she said.
Mr. Kelly called it a “master alarm flashing for our democracy.”
“It is threatening the very foundation of our system, that we have a right to free speech to lawfully speak out and protest our government without fear of retaliation,” he added.
One Republican senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, was quick to condemn the effort to criminally charge the lawmakers. He warned attempts to wage political war through the courts would undermine the justice system.
“Thankfully, in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were,” Mr. Tillis, who is retiring, wrote on social media. “Political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”
Carl Hulse contributed to this report.
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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