A grand jury has rejected an attempt by the Justice Department of President Donald Trump’s administration to indict some Democratic U.S. lawmakers after they urged members of the military not to comply with unlawful orders, a source familiar with the matter said late on Tuesday.
Late last year, Trump, a Republican, assailed the Democratic lawmakers who told members of the U.S. military in a video that they must refuse any illegal orders. Trump called them traitors who could face execution.
The six Democratic lawmakers in the video included Senator Elise Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Iraq war veteran, Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy veteran, as well as U.S. Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan.
Prosecutors sought to charge the lawmakers with violating a federal law barring interference with the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the U.S. armed forces, the source said, asking not to be identified. The indictment was pursued by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.
The grand jury decision was reported earlier by NBC News and the New York Times.
The Democrats criticized the attempt to indict them.
“Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a Grand Jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law,” Slotkin said on social media website X.
“Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed,” she said.