Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has reportedly ended her investigation into six Democratic members of Congress who advised service members and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders.”
NBC News broke the news on Monday, citing three people familiar with the case.
Earlier this month, a grand jury unanimously declined to indict Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), plus Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.).
In November, the six lawmakers, all either served in the military or in U.S. intelligence, released a video where they told people in those fields they have a legal obligation to refuse unlawful orders from superiors, per Mediaite.
In response, President Donald Trump said the six “should be in jail right now.”
“IT WAS SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, AND SEDITION IS A MAJOR CRIME. THERE CAN BE NO OTHER INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THEY SAID!” he wrote after the video was released. He also said their actions might be “punishable by death.”
Legal experts criticized Pirro’s efforts to indict the lawmakers.
The New York Times reported last week that Pirro had suffenly ordered her office to seek indictments against the six lawmakers.
“For reasons that remain unclear, Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump, abruptly instructed her team to seek an indictment of the lawmakers, all of whom had served in the armed forces or the intelligence community,” the Times reported. “Her prosecutors then faced a decision that many in the department under Mr. Trump have confronted: Comply or resist. They chose the first.”
The lawmakers said after the indictment attempt failed they wouldn’t be intimidated by efforts to muffle free speech.
“Whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point,” Slotkin said. “It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies.”
The DOJ may pursue the case in another jurisdiction.
