Dem Senator Thumbs Her Nose At DOJ, Rejects Call To Answer For ‘Illegal Orders’ Video

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is refusing to comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she helped organize that urged U.S. service members to resist what she described as “illegal orders,” escalating a standoff with federal prosecutors.

Slotkin said this week she will not sit for a voluntary interview with investigators, saying in a statement on X Thursday, “I’m not gonna be sitting for this inquiry. I’m not gonna legitimize their actions,” even as her legal team prepares for what it says could become litigation against the Justice Department.

Slotkin’s attorney informed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro that the senator would decline a voluntary interview and requested that the office preserve documents for “anticipated litigation,” in letters first obtained by the Associated Press. A separate letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi urged her to immediately terminate the inquiry and reject an FBI interview request.

The investigation stems from a video Slotkin released last year alongside five other Democratic lawmakers, all with prior military or intelligence experience, urging active-duty service members to refuse orders they believe to be unlawful. Republicans criticized the video as reckless and potentially encouraging insubordination, while President Donald Trump publicly accused the lawmakers of sedition.

Slotkin has sought to reframe the video as a civics lesson rather than a call to disobedience, insisting it was meant only to remind troops of their duty to reject illegal commands. But she has simultaneously accused federal authorities of attempting to silence her through intimidation.

“They are purposely using physical and legal intimidation to get me to shut up,” Slotkin said. “But more importantly, they’re using that intimidation to deter others from speaking out against their administration.”

Slotkin further warned officials at the Justice Department that while recent Supreme Court rulings have expanded presidential immunity, those protections do not extend to officials enforcing the law on the president’s behalf.

“The Supreme Court may have given the president near-immunity on most matters,” she said, “but they’ve given no such immunity to those doing his bidding.”

The Justice Department’s requests have so far been voluntary, placing the burden on prosecutors to decide whether to escalate the inquiry by issuing subpoenas to sitting members of Congress. Asked whether she would comply if subpoenaed, Slotkin paused before responding, saying only that she would “take a hard look at it.”

Slotkin has portrayed the investigation as part of a broader campaign of intimidation, citing threats against her family and property following renewed attention to the video. “If they can do this to a sitting senator,” she said, “just imagine what they could do to a community leader, a business leader, or a mom who goes viral on the internet.”

The dispute has also raised questions about accountability for lawmakers who invoke military authority in partisan messaging, even as Slotkin positions herself as a victim of political overreach. The Pentagon has separately investigated Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), another participant in the video, while Kelly has sued over efforts to discipline him.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and three-term House member before winning her Senate seat in 2024, has increasingly leaned into confrontation with the Trump administration. She has publicly urged Democrats to abandon restraint, “I‘m from the Midwest and for us, leaders like our coaches are just — they have got some alpha energy to them,” Slotkin said when asked how she’d fix Democratic messaging in 2025. 

Her push to bring “alpha energy” back to the party has coincided with a divisive start to her Senate tenure. “I did this to go on offense,” Slotkin said of her refusal to cooperate. “To put them in a position where they have to own their choices.”

Whether that strategy forces the Justice Department to retreat now rests with federal prosecutors weighing how far to press an investigation into members of Congress who are openly daring them to act.