A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected a request by prosecutors to indict two Democratic senators, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, on charges of seditious conspiracy, MS Now reported Tuesday night.
The attempted indictment of Mr. Kelly and Mr. Slotkin is related to a November video in which Mr. Kelly and Mr. Slotkin participated, along with four other Democrats, in which they reminded members of the U.S. military of their right to refuse to comply with illegal orders from their superiors.
The video was released in the wake of continued extrajudicial killings by the US military of crew members of boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors had unsuccessfully tried to bring charges against Kelly and Slotkin, as well as four other Democratic politicians. Representatives Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania later confirmed that they were among the six people reportedly targeted in the indictment.
Two other Democrats who made the video are Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.
It is highly unusual for a grand jury to refuse to indict someone if the prosecution requests an indictment. An indictment is an indictment issued by a grand jury if the jury agrees that there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed.
President Donald Trump criticized Democrats after the video was released on November 18th.
At the time, President Trump denounced them as “seditious acts that deserve the death penalty!”
“This is an outrageous abuse of power by Donald Trump and his minions,” Kelly, a former U.S. Navy captain and NASA astronaut, said in a statement published in X on Tuesday after news of the whistleblowing broke.
“It wasn’t enough that Pete Hegseth[Secretary of Defense]accused me and threatened to demote me. Now it looks like they tried to have me charged with a crime. It’s all because of something I said they didn’t like. That’s not true,” Kelly said.
“Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro tried to persuade a grand jury to indict me, in response to my making a 90-second video that simply cited the law,” Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, said in a statement.
“Mr. Pirro did this at the direction of President Trump, who repeatedly said that I should be investigated for sedition, arrested, and hanged,” Slotkin said. “Today, a grand jury of anonymous American citizens upheld the rule of law and decided that this case should not proceed. We hope this brings a permanent end to this politicized investigation.”
“But today is not just an embarrassing day for the administration; it’s another sad day for our country,” she said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Tuesday night that he believes the six Democratic members of Congress who made a video about illegal orders to the military should be prosecuted.
“President Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate me, arrest me, and hang me for simply doing my job,” Goodlander said in a statement.
“Today, America’s grand jury stood up to outrageous abuses of presidential power and taxpayers, and respected the Constitution,” Goodlander said. “Despite the threats, I will continue to do my job and uphold my oath to the Constitution.”
“I am not for a moment intimidated by the Trump administration and Justice Department lawyers who tried and failed to indict me today. The American people of the grand jury refused to go along with this attempt to indict me for stating the law in a way that Trump and his promoters do not like,” Delzio said in a statement.
“They may want Americans to be afraid to speak out or disagree, but in this moment, patriotism takes courage. Don’t give up on ship!” Delzio said.
This is breaking news. Please refresh to check for updates.
