Republican Sen. Thom Tillis slammed the Justice Department’s push to criminally charge Democratic lawmakers who last November urged military servicemembers to disobey illegal orders in a video, calling it “political lawfare” in a post on X on Wednesday.
A Washington, D.C., grand jury on Tuesday declined to indict the six lawmakers, who include battleground state Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). It marked another instance of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro failing to clinch a high-profile federal indictment since taking over as the top prosecutor in D.C.
“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Tillis wrote. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were. Political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”
The White House referred POLITICO to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the North Carolina Republican’s social media post.
Kelly and Slotkin were joined in the video by Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, and also Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution,” they said. “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders.”
In a Truth Social spree that followed, President Donald Trump called for the lawmakers to face trial for “seditious behavior” and reshared a post that advocated for hanging the Democrats.
The two-term senator has been a thorn in Trump’s side even before he declared he wouldn’t seek reelection last June. Tillis voted against the Big Beautiful Bill, Trump’s signature domestic policy package, last year after expressing major concerns with its effects on Medicaid. He’s called for the sacking of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. And he’s called for greater congressional cooperation in the wake of Trump’s ambitions to expand into Greenland.
This isn’t the first time Pirro has struggled to persuade a grand jury to indict subjects who draw the ire of the Trump administration. After a panel last August declined to grant a felony indictment against a former DOJ employee who threw a hoagie at a federal officer in Washington, she lamented that DC residents “were so used to crime” and “don’t even care about whether or not the law is violated” in an interview with Fox News.
“My office has been instructed to move for the highest crime possible, consistent with the law, the statute, and the evidence. And in that one case, in that particular article, we were on point,” she said. “But the grand jurors don’t take it so seriously. They’re like, ‘Ah, you know, whatever.’”
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