'We will not be bullied': Defiant Dems slam Trump 'intimidation'

Donald Trump gestures at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo

Democratic lawmakers who participated in a video warning US military personnel against following unlawful orders issued by President Donald Trump remained defiant after being contacted by the FBI.

As reported by Reuters on Tuesday, the FBI has requested interviews with Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Md.), and Jason Crow (D-Colo.), just days after Trump demanded their imprisonment or even death for supposed “sedition.”

One US Department of Justice official told Reuters that the FBI interviews are to determine if the Democratic lawmakers engaged in “any wrongdoing” when they spoke out against the president potentially giving unlawful orders that pit the US military against American civilians.

The Democrats, however, vowed that they would not be intimidated by any FBI investigation.

In a social media post, Slotkin said that Trump’s push to jail the Democrats for exercising their First Amendment rights demonstrated the reason why they decided to participate in the video in the first place. Slotkin accused Trump of “weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies,” while adding that he “does not believe laws apply to him or his Cabinet.”

“This is not the America I know,” added Slotkin, a former CIA analyst. “I’m not going to let this next step from the FBI stop me from speaking up for my country and our Constitution.”

Houlahan, Crow, Goodlander, and Deluzio issued a joint statement accusing Trump of “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” and vowed that “no amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.”

“We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” they emphasized. “That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.”

The FBI interview requests came just a day after the US Department of Defense (DOD) said it had “received serious allegations of misconduct” against Kelly, who is a retired US Navy captain, and was launching an investigation that could result in him being recalled to active duty to face court-martial hearings for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

In a separate social media post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked all the Democrats who participated in the video as the “seditious six” and said that Kelly had been singled out for DOD investigation because he was the only member who was still subject to UCMJ given his status as a retired naval officer.

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