Senator Elissa Slotkin (Democrat, Michigan) has justified her earlier statement to prosecute staffers working for the Donald Trump administration, tying it back to the president’s decision to investigate, indict and hang her for alleged sedition in November 2025.
Ms Slotkin has faced intense criticism for threatening prosecutions of Mr Trump’s current staff to deter young American graduates from working for the administration.
“Spare us the manufactured outrage,” she stated on Monday in a new post on X.
Amid the blowback that trailed last Tuesday’s threat, Ms Slotkin did not recant her statement but only doubled down, saying Mr Trump directed the FBI and Justice Department to criminally indict her over a short video she and other lawmakers made in 2025, reminding military service members they had a constitutional obligation to reject illegal orders.
“Less than a year ago, Trump directed the DOJ and FBI to investigate me, and then tried to criminally indict me for a 90-second video, exercising basic free speech,” Ms Slotkin wrote, defending her earlier threat.
“You can refuse illegal orders,” Ms Slotkin and other veteran Democratic lawmakers said in the 2025 video addressed to U.S. military service members.
The Trump administration regarded the video as a call to insurrection and to defy the president, filing charges against the lawmakers.
Ms Slotkin said she escaped indictment thanks to anonymous jury members who did not share Mr Trump’s view that the video amounted to “seditious behaviour, punishable by death”.
The Michigan lawmaker insisted that staffers who aided Mr Trump’s behaviour by carrying out his directive should be probed and prosecuted.
“If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the president or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the president, you should be held accountable,” Ms Slotkin said.
According to her, Mr Trump’s immunity does not cover his staffers “who do illegal things at his behest”.
“Given how rampant that corruption appears to the average American, people looking to work for his Administration should realise that while the Supreme Court has granted the President immunity, it has not done the same for those who do illegal things at his behest,” the lawmaker said.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.