\n<\/p>\n
The FBI has requested interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging members of the United States military to \u201cdefy illegal orders\u201d, according to the legislators.<\/p>\n
The statements on Tuesday came a day after the Pentagon said it was reviewing Senator Mark Kelly, a US Navy veteran and one of the six lawmakers, over potential violations of military law.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n President Donald Trump has previously accused the lawmakers of sedition and said in a social media post that the crime is \u201cpunishable by DEATH\u201d.<\/p>\n All six of the Democratic lawmakers in the video have served in the military or the intelligence community.<\/p>\n Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, one of the six in the video, told reporters on Tuesday that \u201cthe counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to the members of Congress, saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us\u201d.<\/p>\n Slotkin called it a \u201cscare tactic\u201d by Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether you agree with the video or don\u2019t agree with the video, the question to me is: Is this the appropriate response for a president of the United States to go after and seek to weaponise the federal government against those he disagrees with?\u201d said Slotkin.<\/p>\n The lawmakers said their video statements accurately reflected US law. American troops swear an oath to the US Constitution, not the president, and under military rules must follow \u201cany lawful general order or regulation\u201d.<\/p>\n The other Democrats who appeared in the video that was released last week include US Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, all military veterans.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress,\u201d the four House Democrats said in a joint statement. \u201cYesterday, the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants-at-Arms requesting interviews.\u201d<\/p>\n They added that \u201cno amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n There was no immediate comment from Senator Kelly.<\/p>\n The Reuters news agency, citing a Department of Justice official, reported that the FBI interviews were to determine \u201cif there\u2019s any wrongdoing, and then go from there\u201d.<\/p>\n The FBI is headed by Trump appointee Kash Patel.<\/p>\n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a memo made public on Tuesday, referred Kelly to the secretary of the Navy for \u201cpotentially unlawful comments\u201d made in the video last week. Hegseth said he wanted a brief on the outcome of the review by December 10.<\/p>\n Together, the inquiries by the FBI and the Pentagon mark an extraordinary escalation for federal law enforcement and military institutions that traditionally steer clear of partisan clashes. They also underscore the administration\u2019s willingness to push legal limits against its critics, even when they are sitting members of Congress.<\/p>\n The inquiries have prompted criticism from Republicans, too.<\/p>\n Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska slammed both inquiries on social media, saying that accusing the lawmakers \u201cof treason and sedition for rightfully pointing out that service members can refuse illegal orders is reckless and flat-out wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of Defense and FBI surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation,\u201d wrote Murkowski.<\/p>\n The lawmakers said they had no further information, and the FBI has not made clear on what basis they were seeking the interviews.<\/p>\n Patel, the FBI director, in an interview with a journalist, described the bureau\u2019s investigation as an \u201congoing matter\u201d in explaining why he could not discuss details.<\/p>\n Asked for his reaction to the video, Patel said, \u201cWhat goes through my head is the same thing that goes through my head in any case: Is there a lawful predicate to open up an inquiry and investigation, or is there not? And that decision will be made by the career agents and analysts here at the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n In the video, lawmakers said they needed troops to \u201cstand up for our laws \u2026 our Constitution\u201d. Kelly, who was a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut and then retiring at the rank of captain, told troops that \u201cyou can refuse illegal orders\u201d.<\/p>\n The lawmakers did not mention specific circumstances in the video.<\/p>\n At an event in Michigan on Tuesday, Slotkin pointed to the Trump administration ordering the military to blow up small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which officials accuse of ferrying drugs, and continued attempts at deploying National Guard troops into US cities despite some legal setbacks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that there was any one incident; it was the sheer number of people coming to us and saying, \u2018I\u2019m worried. I am being sent to Washington\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m being sent to LA or Chicago, North Carolina now, and I\u2019m concerned I\u2019m going to be asked to do something that I don\u2019t know if I should do,’\u201d said Slotkin. \u201cSo that\u2019s where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n Troops, especially uniformed commanders, do have specific obligations to reject orders that are unlawful, if they make that determination.<\/p>\n Broad legal precedence also holds that just following orders, colloquially known as the \u201cNuremberg defence\u201d, as it was used unsuccessfully by senior Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler, does not absolve troops of responsibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The FBI has requested interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging members of the United States military to \u201cdefy illegal orders\u201d, according to the legislators. The statements on Tuesday came a day after the Pentagon said it was reviewing Senator Mark Kelly, a US Navy veteran and one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Intimidation, harassment\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Frivolous investigation\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"