Source: Bill Clark / Getty
On Tuesday (Feb. 10), federal prosecutors failed in their bid to indict six Democratic members of Congress who angered President Donald Trump by appearing in and posting a video calling on active-duty members of the military and intelligence agencies to remember their oath to refuse to follow illegal orders.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, brought the indictment claiming that the lawmakers were violating a federal law prohibiting the interference in the morale and discipline of the U.S. armed forces. Her office didn’t respond to requests for comment after the news broke.
The charges stemmed from a video first organized by Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst, which was released as the Trump administration began to carry out strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and contemplated deploying active-duty troops to curb protests in American cities. “Our laws are clear,” said Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former astronaut. “You can refuse illegal orders.”
