FBI and Justice Department officials have contacted the U.S. Capitol Police to arrange interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who urged military personnel to refuse “illegal orders.”
A law-enforcement source not authorized to speak publicly about ongoing investigations was granted anonymity by MS NOW to confirm the inquiries. All of the lawmakers involved said they have, in fact, been contacted by the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms on behalf of the FBI to set up interviews.
The latest action comes after the Defense Department on Monday announced it has launched an investigation into “serious allegations of misconduct” against Navy veteran Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who was among the six members of Congress to appear in the video.
Kelly’s office confirmed to MS NOW that the senator had “received this inquiry via the Sergeant at Arms.”
“Senator Kelly 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,” the office said, referring to the Defense secretary.
On Monday, Kelly told MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow on “The Rachel Maddow Show” that the Pentagon’s investigation is “absurd,” and he singled out the president for starting it.
“I think it says a lot more about him than it says about me. He doesn’t want accountability,” Kelly said. “But Rachel, I’m not going to be silenced. I’m not going to be intimidated.”
Fox News first reported that the FBI contacted the Capitol Police over the matter.
The Trump administration investigations follow a flurry of social media threats made by President Donald Trump, who on Friday accused the lawmakers — each of whom previously served in U.S. military or intelligence — of engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
“They informed me about this in a tweet, because this is not about the law,” Kelly said. “This is about the media cycle, and it’s about intimidation, and the whole thing’s almost comical.”
In the video, the six members of Congress appear to be speaking directly to members of the intelligence and armed services communities, some of whom have been deployed to cities around the country to carry out Trump’s crackdown on immigration or in connection with the Trump administration’s lethal strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.
“Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders,” they say.
The other Democrats who joined Kelly in the video are Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.
Crow, Houlahan, Deluzio and Goodlander issued a joint statement Tuesday defending their constitutional duty to hold the executive branch accountable and accusing Trump of “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress.”
“We will not be bullied,” they added. “We will never give up the ship.”
On Friday, Crow shared audio of graphic death threats he received after Trump suggested the congressman, along with the other five Democrats, be executed.
Slotkin said in her own statement that the president “directing the FBI to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place. He believes in weaponizing the federal government.”
“This isn’t just about a video,” she said. “This is not the America I know, and I’m not going to let this next step from the FBI stop me from speaking up for my country, and our Constitution.”
Mychael Schnell contributed to this report.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.