Democrats push back as FBI probes lawmaker video urging military to refuse illegal orders

WASHINGTON (CN) — Democratic lawmakers involved in a controversial video message urging military service members to reject illegal orders from President Donald Trump acknowledged reports Tuesday that they are now facing an FBI probe.

But the Democrats remained defiant, slamming the investigation as “intimidation” and doubling down on their military missive.

The group of House and Senate lawmakers infuriated Trump last week with a video clip in which they accused the White House of “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.” The Democrats, all veterans, urged service members to “refuse illegal orders” from the White House, though they did not point to any administration acts they believed to be unlawful.

An incensed Trump last week accused the lawmakers of “seditious behavior” and suggested they be imprisoned or even executed. And now federal law enforcement has apparently stepped in.

In a joint statement published Tuesday afternoon, a group of House Democrats involved in the video said the FBI contacted the House and Senate sergeants at arms Monday and requested interviews with some members.

“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” said Colorado Representative Jason Crow, New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania Representatives Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan.

The lawmakers said their message to the military is part of an effort to uphold their oath to “support and defend” the Constitution.

“No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution,” the Democrats wrote. “We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.”

According to a source with knowledge of the matter, the FBI has requested interviews with all the House lawmakers who appeared in last week’s video clip. Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, one of the six Senate Democrats who participated, said in a statement that the agency had opened “what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us.”

Slotkin added that Trump’s reaction and the subsequent FBI probe was “exactly why” she and her fellow Democrats made the video. “He does not believe the law applies to him.”

The Pentagon has also targeted one lawmaker who urged service members to ignore illegal orders. The Defense Department on Monday opened an investigation into Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, suggesting that the retired U.S. Navy captain had interfered with the “good order and discipline” of the armed forces and that he may have violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

In a Tuesday social media post directed at the lawmaker, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth referred to the clip as a “sedition video.”

Kelly, though, called the Pentagon probe “absurd” and claimed his message to service members was “pretty simple and noncontroversial.”

“I think it says a lot more about him than it says about me,” the Arizona Democrat said of Trump to MS NOW host Rachel Maddow on Monday. “I’m not going to be silenced. I’m not going to be intimidated.”

The president wrote in a stream of social media posts last week that the Democrats involved in the video message should be arrested and put on trial. He later said their conduct was “punishable by DEATH” and shared posts from followers saying they should be hanged.

“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” Trump wrote.

The White House has faced legal scrutiny over several of its military actions during Trump’s second term in office, including the administration’s move to activate National Guard soldiers in several U.S. cities. Democrats in Congress have also argued the president has undertaken illegal strikes against boats in the Caribbean that the Pentagon has said were operated by Venezuelan drug traffickers.

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