Slotkin Hits Back as Trump DOJ Pushes for Retribution
“Take ownership of their choices”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) declined to meet for a voluntary interview with Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host turned U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
You’ll recall that Pirro sent Slotkin a letter in January requesting a meeting with the senator or his personal attorney just days after President Trump reportedly ripped a group of U.S. attorneys, including Pirro, at the White House for not being quick enough to implement his retaliation agenda.
Slotkin was one of a handful of members of Congress who participated in a video last year in which she, a former CIA official and a group of Democratic lawmakers and veterans called on members of the military not to act on illegal orders from the Trump administration. Shortly after the video surfaced, Trump made it his personal mission to threaten Democratic lawmakers with prosecution or worse, including suggesting they should be hanged for sedition.
Trump administration officials and friends seemed to get the point soon after. The FBI quickly requested interviews with members of Congress—including Slotkin and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Jason Crow (D-CO)—and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated proceedings to punish Kelly, a former astronaut who retired as a Navy captain, including an attempt to strip him of his rank and pension. Kelly has been suing Hegseth throughout this ordeal, and at a preliminary injunction hearing this week, a Bush-appointed federal district court judge criticized the Trump administration’s approach and suggested it was appalling for them to insinuate that a veteran and congressman should be punished for criticizing the Defense Department.
In letters first obtained by the Associated Press, Slotkin’s lawyer — former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was ousted during Trump’s first term for overseeing an investigation into then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price — told Pirro that Slotkin would not voluntarily agree to an interview with his office. Bharara also reportedly asked Pirro to “preserve all documents related to the case for ‘anticipated litigation,'” in the AP’s words.
Bharara also sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to the FBI’s interview request, rejecting it and asking Bondi to end any investigation of Slotkin over the video, arguing that it constitutes a violation of Slotkin’s constitutional rights.
According to the AP:
The refusal marks a potential turning point in the impasse, shifting the burden to the Justice Department to decide whether it will step up the investigation into sitting members of Congress or withdraw from a now openly contested investigation.
“I did that to go on the offensive,” Slotkin said in an interview Wednesday. “And put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. Put them in a position where they have to take ownership of their choice to use the U.S. attorney’s office to prosecute a senator.”
At least one Senate Republican urges Thune to blow up filibuster over SAVE Act
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) rejected President Trump’s initial push to circumvent the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, a deeply troubling voting rights law that would reform election administration nationwide, requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote (it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections), thereby disenfranchising millions of Americans.
During conversations with the White House this week, Trump reportedly convinced House Republicans who were opposed to passing legislation to bring the government out of a partial shutdown without the SAVE bill attached to the funding plan that they could pass the bill in the Senate via a “filibuster.” Thune quickly shut down talk of killing or changing the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, warning of potential future “ramifications” (i.e., what Democrats might do once back in power).
“We will vote on the SAVE Act,” Thune said. “But exercising or initiating a parliamentary filibuster has ramifications, implications that I think everyone needs to be aware of. So we will have those discussions. But it obviously blocks speech indefinitely, with not only unlimited debate, but also unlimited amendments, all of which can reset the clock.”
But members of his conference, particularly Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), one of the bill’s sponsors, are calling on Thune to change his mind.
“Return to Senate tradition. Require filibustering senators (gasp) to actually speak,” Lee posted on X. “Using existing Senate rules. Pass the SAVE America Act.”
It’s unclear whether any Republican senators besides Lee support such a drastic move, but most of those who have spoken about it oppose it. The SAVE Act passed the House last year, but it was not voted on in the Senate. The House is expected to vote on an updated version of the bill, which will also require a photo ID to vote in addition to requiring proof of citizenship for registration.
Speaking of the attack on voting rights
TPM is resurrecting The Franchise, a weekly newsletter we once sent, starting before and continuing as President Trump began spreading deranged conspiracy theories about his defeat in the 2020 election. (You can sign up to receive it in your inbox here!)
In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election and MAGA’s various attempts to sow doubt in state election administration processes and spread conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud (conveniently, in areas where Democrats have won or typically win elections), former TPM reporter Matt Shuham used The Franchise to meticulously track the big lie and all its tentacles and permutations.
With Trump’s eternal fixation on the 2020 election returning to the news this week — and everything his Justice Department and White House are trying to do to make his feverish dream of “nationalizing” elections, seizing state voter data, forcing gerrymandering mid-cycle, and potentially intimidating voters at the polls this fall — we thought it was an appropriate time to bring The Franchise back to bookstores. reception of the TPM readers. TPM reporter Khaya Himmelman, who covers all things voting rights for TPM, will be your guide through this muck.
You can read the first issue of The Franchise here and subscribe here.
In case you missed it
Morning memo: The Upside Down World of the Jester Ed Martin
TPM Coffee: Donald Trump became president by appealing to conspiracy theorists – now he’s chasing them away
Khaya Himmelman: The Franchise Newsletter: Welcome back!
Josh Marshall: “Are you talking billionaire?” and other stories from the fall of the Washington Post
Yesterday’s most read story
Judge in disbelief as Trump lawyer asks him to create new law for Mark Kelly’s retaliation crusade
What we read
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Trump’s FBI raid could lead to election takeover in Georgia’s largest county
New emergency fund helps American journalists in danger
