WASHINGTON — Members of Congress who produced an explosive video last week said Tuesday they have been informed that the FBI is investigating them.
The agency is seeking interviews with the six Democratic lawmakers, who were contacted through their respective chambers’ sergeant-at-arms’ offices, the members said.
In the video posted last Thursday, four House members and two senators who served in the military or in the CIA urged those currently serving in U.S. military and intelligence positions to disobey unlawful orders.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday evening on the reported investigation.
The report of an FBI probe came a day after the Pentagon said it was probing one of the lawmakers, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for alleged misconduct over the video.
Kelly retired as a Navy captain after more than two decades of service and so falls under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Citing “serious allegations of misconduct,” the Defense Department said Monday it was initiating a thorough review of Kelly’s actions and that the Pentagon had the right to recall Kelly to active duty for possible “court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made public a memo to Navy Secretary John Phelan notifying the secretary of “potentially unlawful conduct” by Kelly and referring the department’s investigation to him.
Hegseth asked for a briefing on Phelan’s review no later than Dec. 10.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA and Defense Department official who serves on the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs panels, posted on X that she has been told the FBI is investigating her.
“Last night, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division appeared to open an inquiry into me in response to a video President Trump did not like,” Slotkin wrote.
“The President directing the FBI to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place,” Slotkin said. “He believes in weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies and does not believe laws apply to him or his Cabinet. He uses legal harassment as an intimidation tactic to scare people out of speaking up.”
Likewise, four House members who had appeared in the controversial video said in a joint statement that the House sergeant at arms had informed their offices that the FBI had contacted the sergeant at arms on Monday to relay the fact that the FBI is probing the members over the video.
“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress,” wrote Democratic Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado; Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, both of Pennsylvania; and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire — all of whom served in the armed forces.
“No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution,” the four House members wrote. “We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.”
Kelly is also subject to the FBI probe on top of the Pentagon’s investigation. His office confirmed the FBI’s outreach and said he “won’t be silenced by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s attempt to intimidate him and keep him from doing his job as a U.S. senator.”
Kelly, who is talked about as a potential 2028 presidential candidate , affixed his name to a Democratic National Committee fundraising pitch on Monday after the Pentagon announced its investigation.
In the video, the six Democratic lawmakers said: “Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.”
President Donald Trump called the video “seditious behavior” of the sort that is “punishable by death.”
Trump in a radio interview Friday backed away somewhat from such harsh comments. “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble,” Trump said on the Brian Kilmeade Show. “In the old days, it was death. That was seditious behavior.”
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