Tag: Pete Hegseth

The Justice Department is reaching out to Democrat lawmakers who participated in a video message encouraging service members to “refuse illegal orders,” a source familiar with the matter told Fox News on Thursday. Reps. Jason Crow, of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan, of Pennsylvania, and Maggie Goodlander, of New Hampshire, had all indicated Wednesday that they received inquiries from U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro asking for an interview with them or their attorneys, according to The New York Times. The controversial video, which was posted in November, featured Crow, Houlahan, Goodlander, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa. All the Democrats who participated in the video, which was slammed as a call to defy President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, had military and intelligence backgrounds. The video was released amid a nationwide debate about Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to various cities across the country.Trump criticized the video and said in multiple Truth Social posts that the lawmakers who participated in it had engaged in “seditious behavior.” “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand — We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET,” the president wrote on Nov. 20. The same day, Trump wrote in a separate Truth Social post, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”Crow, Houlahan and Goodlander made posts on X on Wednesday speaking out about the Justice Department’s review.”Trump’s political cronies at the Justice Department are trying to threaten and intimidate us,” Crow said. “Well, he’s picked a fight with the wrong people. I will always uphold my oath to the Constitution.” “No matter the threats, I’m not backing down,” Goodlander said in a video posted to X. “It is sad, telling and downright dangerous that simply stating a bedrock principle of American law caused the President, our Commander in Chief, to threaten violence against me and to weaponize the Department of Justice against me.””Like my colleagues, I was contacted by federal prosecutors who are investigating me for making a video reminding servicemembers not to follow illegal orders,” Houlahan said in another X post. “The six of us are being targeted not because we said something untrue, but because we said something President Trump and Secretary Hegseth didn’t want anyone to hear.” This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.