U.S. Attorney Drops Effort To Indict Six Democratic Lawmakers Over ‘Seditious’ Military Video

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is abandoning the effort to indict six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video urging military members to refuse illegal orders, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.The decision follows a rare unanimous rejection by a federal grand jury at Washington, D.C., earlier this month. The grand jurors found that prosecutors failed to demonstrate probable cause that the lawmakers had committed a crime.The case centers on a 90-second video posted in November by six Democratic members of Congress, all of whom have military or intelligence backgrounds: Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona; and House members Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire; Jason Crow of Colorado; Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.In the video, the lawmakers reminded military personnel and intelligence community members of their obligation to follow military law and refuse orders deemed illegal. The message came amid a series of controversial proposals by President Trump regarding military deployment.The lawmakers said their video was prompted by Mr. Trump’s past suggestions, including a 2016 proposal to kill the families of terrorists and threats to deploy troops domestically in ways they viewed as potentially illegal.Mr. Trump responded angrily on social media, calling the lawmakers’ actions “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS” and demanding they be arrested. He later suggested their behavior could be “punishable by DEATH.”Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued at the time that the video “sows doubt and confusion — which only puts our warriors in danger.”Prosecutors working under Ms. Pirro attempted to charge the six lawmakers under a federal statute that threatens up to 10 years in prison for anyone who “advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military.”However, after prosecutors presented their case to the grand jury, the jurors unanimously declined to return an indictment — an outcome that is exceptionally rare and signals that even the low threshold of probable cause was not met.While the case appears dead at Washington, D.C., it remains possible that another federal prosecutor in a different district could attempt to pursue charges. However sources told CBS News that is unlikely and said no officials have publicly suggested they will do so.All six Democrats publicly condemned the prosecution attempt and praised the grand jury’s decision.“Whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point,” Ms. Slotkin told NBC News. “It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies.”Mr. Kelly called the effort an “outrageous abuse of power,” while Mr. Crow wrote in a statement, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” Mr. Deluzio said, “I will not be intimidated for a single second.”Ms. Goodlander said the grand jury “honored our Constitution,” and Ms. Houlahan called the grand jurors’ refusal to indict “good news for the Constitution.”Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, also criticized the Justice Department’s actions, writing on social media, “Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world. Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were.”After the grand jury’s rejection became public, attorneys for the lawmakers sent strong warnings to Ms. Pirro’s office about continuing the case.Abbe Lowell, representing Mr. Crow, wrote a letter to Ms. Pirro putting her office “on notice of the legal ramification” if they continued to pursue charges.A former U.S. attorney representing Ms. Slotkin, Preet Bharara, wrote that it was “perplexing” that the Justice Department had brought the case at all. “The prosecutors we spoke to in your office, though courteous, could not articulate any theory of possible criminal liability or identify any statute they were relying on that could have been violated,” he wrote in a February 5 letter.Paul Fishman, a former U.S. attorney representing Mr. Kelly, warned that seeking another indictment “would be a remarkable abuse of the Department’s power.”Mr. Kelly told reporters Monday he plans to attend Mr. Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday despite the attempted prosecution. “I’m going to continue to do my job, and I’m going to be sitting there right in front of him.”

U.S. Attorney Drops Effort To Indict Six Democratic Lawmakers Over ‘Seditious’ Military Video

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