Lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging US troops to defy “illegal orders” said that the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter.
It would mark the second investigation tied to the video, coming a day after the Pentagon said it was reviewing US Senator Mark Kelly over potential contraventions of US military law.
The FBI and the Pentagon actions come after US President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition and said it is “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lawmakers in the video urged troops to reject any illegal orders from their superiors.
“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of congress,” a group of four US representatives said in a statement on Tuesday. “Yesterday, the FBI contacted the [US] House [of Representatives] and Senate sergeants at arms requesting interviews.”
US Senator Elissa Slotkin, one of the six Democratic lawmakers in the video, told reporters that “last night the counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to the members of Congress, saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us.”
Slotkin called it a “scare tactic by” Trump.
“Whether you agree with the video or don’t agree with the video, the question to me is: Is this the appropriate response for a president of the United States to go after and seek to weaponize the federal government against those he disagrees with?” Slotkin said.
The group of four representatives said in their statement that “no amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our constitution.”
All six of the Democratic lawmakers in the video have served in the military or intelligence community.
The FBI went through the top security officials for the House and Senate to request interviews with each of the six lawmakers.
The lawmakers said they had no further information.
The FBI declined to comment on Tuesday, but FBI Director Kash Patel, in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, described it as an “ongoing matter” in explaining why he could not discuss details.
Asked for his reaction to the video, Patel said: “What goes through my head is the same thing that goes through my head in any case: Is there a lawful predicate to open up an inquiry and investigation or is there not? And that decision will be made by the career agents and analysts here at the FBI.”
In the video, lawmakers said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws ... our constitution.”
Kelly, who was a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut and then retiring at the rank of captain, told troops that “you can refuse illegal orders.”
After the Pentagon announced the investigation into Kelly on Monday, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referred it to the US Navy on Tuesday and requested a briefing by Dec. 10.
The lawmakers did not mention specific circumstances in the video.
At an event in Michigan on Tuesday, Slotkin pointed to the Trump administration ordering the military to blow up small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean accused of ferrying drugs, as well as attempts to deploy National Guard troops into US cities.
“It wasn’t that there was any one incident, it was the sheer number of people coming to us and saying: ‘I’m worried. I am being sent to Washington or I’m being sent to LA [Los Angeles] or Chicago, North Carolina now, and I’m concerned I’m going to be asked to do something that I don’t know if I should do,’” Slotkin said.
“So that’s where it came from,” she added.
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