{"id":14925,"date":"2026-02-11T14:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14925"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:30:53","slug":"trump-administration-fails-to-indict-democrats-involved-in-illegal-orders-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14925","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration fails to indict Democrats involved in ‘illegal orders’ video"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration tried and failed Tuesday to indict Democratic lawmakers over a video urging members of the military and intelligence communities not to comply with unlawful orders, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six Democrats participated in the video, and some had said they would not cooperate with the Justice Department\u2019s probe into their involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indictment, pursued by the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Columbia, led by Trump appointee Jeanine Pirro, is the latest example of the Justice Department\u2019s targeting the president’s perceived political opponents. The government attorneys assigned to the case are political appointees, not career Justice Department prosecutors, according to a source familiar with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Justice Department spokesman and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI had sought interviews with the six members of Congress who appeared in the video, which was posted to social media in November: Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers, all of whom served in the military or in intelligence roles, said in the video that the Trump administration was pitting members of the military and the intelligence communities \u201cagainst American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They then pointed out that public servants can refuse illegal orders. \u201cNow, more than ever, the American people need you,\u201d the lawmakers say in the video. \u201cDon\u2019t give up the ship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, members of the military are obliged to obey only lawful orders and must refuse those that are manifestly illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump accused the Democratic lawmakers on his social media platform, Truth Social, of \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d at the time. Legal experts broadly agree that prosecuting members of Congress for their political speech would raise serious First Amendment concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the First Amendment issues, the \u201cspeech or debate\u201d clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers on Capitol Hill immunity from prosecution for acts taken within the legislative sphere, a fundamental check on the constitutional separation of powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge in a separate case is expected to rule in the coming days on the legality of actions taken by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against Kelly over his participation in the video. Hegseth issued a formal letter of censure last month and is seeking to reduce Kelly’s retirement rank as a Navy captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t enough for Pete Hegseth to censure me and threaten to demote me, now it appears they tried to have me charged with a crime \u2014 all because of something I said that they didn\u2019t like,\u201d Kelly said in a statement Tuesday night. \u201cThat\u2019s not the way things work in America. Donald Trump wants every American to be too scared to speak out against him. The most patriotic thing any of us can do is not back down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slotkin, one of the lawmakers who said they would not cooperate with the Justice Department’s probe, said she hopes Tuesday’s action by the grand jury “ends this politicized investigation for good.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But today wasn\u2019t just an embarrassing day for the Administration. It was another sad day for our country,” Slotkin said on X. “Because whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point. It\u2019s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies. It\u2019s the kind of thing you see in a foreign country, not in the United States we know and love.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others responded in a similarly defiant tones on X. Deluzio said he “will not be intimidated for a single second by the Trump Administration or Justice Department lawyers who tried and failed to indict me,” while Goodlander said, “No matter the threats, I will keep doing my job and upholding my oath to our Constitution.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houlahan said in a statement, “This is good news for the Constitution and the free speech protections it guarantees.” Crow added in his that “Americans should be furious that Trump and his goons tried to weaponize our justice system again against his political opponents.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under long-standing Justice Department policy, the Public Integrity Section would normally have to sign off on every step of an investigation of a sitting member of Congress, especially in a case with free speech and speech-and-debate considerations. But the Trump administration has dismantled the Public Integrity Section, eliminating checks meant to prevent the Justice Department’s powers from being abused for political purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration has previously failed to indict other perceived political foes. After a federal judge dismissed an initial indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Justice Department failed to convince two separate federal grand juries that it had met the probable cause threshold: once in Norfolk, Virginia, on Dec. 4 and once in Alexandria, Virginia, on Dec. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Pirro, a former Fox News host and longtime friend of Trump\u2019s, the U.S. attorney’s office has also struggled to secure indictments and convictions, including when a jury acquitted a man who chucked a Subway sandwich at a federal officer patrolling Washington at Trump’s orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very rare for federal grand juries to say prosecutors failed to meet the probable cause threshold for an indictment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration tried and failed Tuesday to indict Democratic lawmakers over a video urging members of the military and intelligence communities not to comply with unlawful orders, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. Six Democrats participated in the video, and some had said they would not cooperate with the Justice Department\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2258,3962,1724],"class_list":["post-14925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-administration","tag-fails","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration fails to indict Democrats involved in 'illegal orders' video - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14925\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump administration fails to indict Democrats involved in 'illegal orders' video - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration tried and failed Tuesday to indict Democratic lawmakers over a video urging members of the military and intelligence communities not to comply with unlawful orders, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. 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