Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) stands at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin announced Thursday that she and five other Democratic senators declined to give a requested interview in response to a Justice Department investigation into a video in which she encouraged U.S. troops to disobey illegal orders.
“I am not going to sit down for this investigation. I am not going to justify their actions,” Slotkin said in a videotaped statement posted to X.
Mr. Slotkin’s lawyers also sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, informing them of Mr. Slotkin’s insubordination and asking Mr. Bondi to order Mr. Pirro to halt the investigation.
Attorney Preet Bharara asked Pirro to preserve the records because “we anticipate litigation regarding potential violations of the senator’s First Amendment rights and your office’s persistent and retaliatory investigation.”
In a letter to Pirro, Bharara said the message in the Nov. 18 video featuring Slotkin and other Democrats is “uncontroversial and beyond debate.”
“We are therefore perplexed that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into this matter. For the reasons set forth below, our client will not be interviewed based on these circumstances and this record,” wrote Bharara, who previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Pirro’s office declined to comment on the letter. CNBC has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
Slotkin said in an X video on Thursday that the Trump administration’s aggressive response to her original video against the U.S. military resulted in a slew of threats against her, her family and staff.
“To be honest, a lot of my lawyers told me to just be quiet, keep my head down, and hopefully it all goes away,” she said.
“But that’s exactly what the Trump administration and Jeanine Pirro want.”
“They are intentionally using physical and legal threats to silence me. But more importantly, they are using that threat to deter others from speaking out against their administration,” Slotkin said.
“Threats are what matter, and I’m not going to go along with them,” she said.
A Nov. 18 video titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship” shows Slotkin, a former CIA official, and other members of Congress addressing U.S. military personnel on camera.
“Our laws are clear: We can refuse unlawful orders,” Slotkin said in the video.
Other participants who appeared in the video were Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former U.S. Navy captain and NASA astronaut, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Hoolahan of Pennsylvania.
The video was released as the US military carried out a series of airstrikes targeting alleged drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
The legality of the boat attacks have been questioned, and at least 126 people have been killed since early September, according to the New York Times.
President Donald Trump was outraged by the video, accusing the Democrats who appeared in it of sedition and treason, and calling for their arrest.
“We can’t ignore their words. We don’t have a country anymore!!!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on November 20. “We must lead by example.”
In a subsequent post, he wrote, “Sedition, punishable by death!”
Days later, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth joined Trump, calling the video “despicable, reckless, and false” and calling Democrats “six instigators.”
The Pentagon initially said it was considering “allegations of serious misconduct” against Kelly, but later moved to reduce his military retirement benefits in retaliation for the video.
Lawmakers said in late November that the FBI was seeking to interview them.
Kelly filed a federal civil lawsuit against Hegseth and the Department of Defense on January 12 over punishment for the video.
The same day, Mr. Slotkin told the Times that Mr. Pirro’s office sent a request to the Senate sergeant-at-arms to meet with either Mr. Pirro or his private attorney.
In a court hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon expressed skepticism about the Pentagon’s attempt to blame Kelly for his involvement in the video.
