Slotkin declines DOJ interview request in 'illegal orders' video case

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Sen. Elissa Slotkin and other Democratic lawmakers filed a video last year reminding troops that they can ignore illegal orders.

Slotkin declines DOJ interview request in ‘illegal orders’ video case www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T23:54:07.373Z

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/05/slotkin-interview-video-doj

Sen. Elissa Slotkin has refused to voluntarily participate in a Justice Department investigation over a video she and five other Democratic members of Congress recorded late last year that urged U.S. troops to resist unlawful orders from the Trump administration.

In a Thursday letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro reviewed by The Washington Post and first reported by the Associated Press, Preet Bharara, an attorney for Slotkin (Michigan), defended the senator’s decision and said the message that Slotkin and the other Democrats shared was “uncontroversial and incontrovertible.”

“As a former member of the intelligence community, and current member of Congress with oversight of those communities, Senator Slotkin felt duty-bound to ensure those individuals understood that the law not only allows, but requires them, to refuse an illegal order,” Bharara wrote.

On Thursday, Slotkin said in a video on X that many lawyers told her “just be quiet, keep my head down, and, hopefully, this will all just go away.....

Slotkin’s legal team, Bharara added, met with two members from Pirro’s office. He said the officers “could not articulate any theory of possible criminal liability or identify any statute they were relying on or that could have been violated.”

Spokespeople for the White House, the Justice Department and Pirro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I cannot believe that any real attorney would open this investigation. Pirro needs to be disbarred or sanctioned for this so-called investigation

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1. MaddowBlog-Democrats won't cooperate with DOJ investigation into 'illegal orders' video

This week, the targets of this misguided inquiry started telling Trump’s Justice Department what it doesn’t like to hear: “No.”

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/democrats-wont-cooperate-with-doj-investigation-into-illegal-orders-video

In November, after several Democratic military and intelligence veterans urged service members to reject illegal orders, the White House began a furious pushback campaign that was extreme even by contemporary standards. Donald Trump helped lead the charge, insisting that the Democratic lawmakers, who’d done nothing wrong, had engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”.....

A few weeks ago, that’s exactly what happened: Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA officer who served three tours in Iraq, announced that federal prosecutors had begun investigating her for having told service members not to obey illegal orders. Other veteran lawmakers who appeared in the same video confirmed that they, too, were facing DOJ scrutiny.

This week, the targets of this misguided inquiry started telling Trump’s Justice Department what it doesn’t like to hear: “No.” The Associated Press reported:

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist ‘illegal orders’ — escalating a dispute that President Donald Trump has publicly pushed.

In letters first obtained by The Associated Press, Slotkin’s lawyer informed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro that the senator would not agree to a voluntary interview about the video.

The Michigan Democrat isn’t alone: The New York Times reported that three House Democrats — Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania — said they’d also rejected overtures from Pirro, the former Fox News host who’s now serving as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia......

The latest developments did offer one notable twist: Slotkin’s legal team also requested that Pirro preserve all documents related to the matter for “anticipated litigation.”

In other words, the Democratic senator isn’t just refusing to play along with a baseless investigation, she’s also considering picking a legal fight of her own. Watch this space.