WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats took to the Senate floor Wednesday to deliver impassioned speeches denouncing the Justice Department’s attempt to impeach a group of lawmakers who last year encouraged members of the U.S. military to resist “illegal orders,” seeing the episode as a grim test for their chamber and the rule of law.
“The fact that they failed to beat the heart of a senator of the United States should not avoid our outrage. They tried to speed up two of us,” said Senator Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “I’m not entirely sure the United States Senate can survive this if we don’t have Republicans standing.”
Schatz was among a series of Democratic senators who spoke out a day after a Washington grand jury declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, over a 90-second video that drew a sharp reaction from President Donald Trump.
While Democrats blasted the Trump administration, they also challenged their Republican colleagues to speak out. Senator Chris Murphy called it a “test for the Senate” that “could break this institution permanently.”
Earlier Wednesday, Slotkin and Kelly praised the grand jury’s decision, with Slotkin saying that “if things had gone differently, we would be preparing for an arrest.”
“A group of anonymous Americans upheld the rule of law and determined that this case should not proceed,” she said.
The failed charges mark a high-profile setback for the Justice Department, which has faced increasing scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans over investigations seen as aligned with Trump’s political grievances. The episode raised strong First Amendment questions about the potential prosecution of sitting members of Congress for their speech.
“This is not a good news story,” Kelly said. “This is a story about how Donald Trump and his cohorts are trying to break our system in order to silence anyone who speaks out against them legally.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer similarly framed the attempt as a broader threat to free speech, saying that if Trump “believes he can even try to jail senators for speech he doesn’t like, then the First Amendment is no longer a basic right.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., said the Justice Department’s response “would not have been my response to this, but we are where we are.”
“The indictment did not stand up to the scrutiny of a grand jury. It was clear it was going nowhere,” Thune said.
Kelly and Slotkin said at a joint press conference that they have not been told what charges prosecutors have sought, and it is unclear whether prosecutors plan to pursue the case further. The senators sent a letter Wednesday asking the Department of Justice to confirm that the investigation is now closed, they said.
The two senators and four members of the House have been in the rain for months since the video. Trump reacted angrily to their video, labeling it “seditious” and saying on social media that the crime was “punishable by death.”
All six Democratic lawmakers featured in the 90-second video served in the military or intelligence community. They said that the purpose of the video was to simply affirm the existing law after receiving communication from members of the military.
On the other side of the Capitol, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said the video warrants criminal scrutiny. He told MSNow News late Wednesday that lawmakers “should probably be indicted.”
“Whenever you’re obstructing law enforcement and disrupting these sensitive operations, it’s a very serious thing, and it’s probably a crime. And, yes, they should probably be charged,” he said.