US lawmakers avoid indictment over call to defy military orders – media

The Justice Department pushed to press charges against members of Congress for urging troops to disobey

A grand jury in Washington has refused to indict a group of Democratic lawmakers over a video urging members of the US military and security agencies to “refuse illegal orders,” media outlets have reported, citing informed sources.

Six members of Congress, including Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, voiced the call in November after the White House began ordering strikes in the Caribbean against boats which it alleged were involved in drug trafficking.

The Democratic lawmakers insisted in the footage that “no one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution,” telling the troops that “your vigilance is critical, and know that we have your back.”

US President Donald Trump reacted to the clip by accusing its authors of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” while US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed that it put American soldiers in danger by sowing “doubt and confusion.” A week after the publication of the footage, the lawmakers were notified that the FBI had launched a probe into it.

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Two sources told CBS News on Tuesday that the US Justice Department sought to indict the Democrats under a criminal statute known as 18 US Code Section 2387. It carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years for someone who “advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military.” However, the jury reportedly refused to back the charges.

Slotkin applauded the decision in a statement later on Tuesday, saying that it was an “embarrassing day” for the Trump administration.

Kelly wrote in a post on X that “Trump wants every American to be too scared to speak out against him. The most patriotic thing any of us can do is not back down.”

READ MORE: Two dead in US strike on suspected narco boat in Pacific – military

According to the media’s calculations, the US has targeted some 39 boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean since September, killing at least 130 people. The attacks, which were condemned as “illegal” by Russia and many other nations, paved the way for an American operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicoals Maduro in early January.