More Democrats say prosecutors are investigating them over military video
WASHINGTON — Three more Democrats said Wednesday that federal prosecutors contacted them following their participation in a video urging members of the military and intelligence community not to follow illegal orders.
Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania all struck a defiant tone in saying they would retaliate against any investigation by the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump called for my arrest, prosecution and execution, all because I said something he didn’t like. Now he is pressuring his political appointees to harass me for daring to speak out and hold him accountable,” Crow said in a statement.
Goodlander said on
“These threats will not deter me, distract me, intimidate me or silence me,” she added.
Houlahan, in his social media post, said: “All six of us are being targeted not because we said something untrue, but because we said something that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth did not want anyone to hear. »
Another of the six lawmakers involved in the video, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said Tuesday that she was under investigation by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a close Trump ally.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday before releasing his statement, Crow said Slotkin “is facing the exact same thing that every member who filmed this video is facing right now. It’s the same situation where the Trump administration decided to weaponize the Justice Department to try to silence its political opponents and suppress dissent. But we are members of Congress, we will do our duty.”
Crow’s office said Pirro’s office contacted Crow last week for an interview about the video, released by the six former military and intelligence veterans in November. The video reminds the military of their duty not to comply with illegal orders.
In response to a request for comment Wednesday, Pirro’s office said, “We neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.”
President Donald Trump blasted the lawmakers after the video surfaced, accusing them of “seditious behavior” and saying their action could be “punishable by death.” The next day, he said on conservative Brian Kilmeade’s radio show that he was “not making death threats” to lawmakers, while adding, “I think they’re in serious trouble.”
Crow and three of the other participants in the video — Goodlander, Houlahan and Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania — said in a joint statement in November that the FBI had contacted the House and Senate sergeants at arms to request interviews with the lawmakers involved in the video, adding that Trump was “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress.”
The sixth Democrat implicated in the video, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain, sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Defense Department on Monday over their efforts to censor and demote him for his remarks in the video. The lawsuit called their actions “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
Kelly and Crow said this week that no interviews with the FBI have yet taken place.
