In an escalation of a growing public dispute with the Justice Department, Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said she will not voluntarily sit for an interview in connection with a federal investigation into a “illegal orders” video she helped organize. Slotkin’s refusal follows letters obtained by The Associated Press in which her lawyers rejected requests tied to the inquiry and urged federal officials to end it.
Slotkin said in an interview Wednesday that she chose to go forward rather than wait for the process to fade. “I did this to go on offense,” Slotkin said. “And to put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. To put them in a position where they have to own their choices of using a U.S. attorney’s office to come after a senator.”
The AP reported that Slotkin’s counsel sent a letter first to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, informing her that Slotkin would not agree to a voluntary interview about the video. In that letter, Slotkin’s legal team also asked Pirro to preserve documents related to the matter for what the letter described as “anticipated litigation.”
Slotkin’s lawyer, Preet Bharara, also wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi separately, declining to sit for an FBI interview and urging Bondi to immediately terminate any inquiry. Bharara’s letter asserted that Slotkin’s constitutional rights had been infringed and said litigation was being considered, according to AP.
The letters and responses place the immediate question on whether prosecutors will broaden their approach to include a subpoena, or whether they will step back after the congressional challenge. Slotkin, when asked whether she would comply with a subpoena, paused before responding: “I’d take a hard look at it.”
The standoff has played out against a timeline that began last November, when Slotkin joined five other Democratic lawmakers—each with prior military or intelligence experience—to post a 90-second video urging service members to follow established military protocols and reject orders they believe to be unlawful. The lawmakers said the Trump administration was “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” and they called on troops to “stand up for our laws.”
After the video drew attention from Republican officials, President Donald Trump publicly attacked the lawmakers, accusing them of sedition and saying their actions were “punishable by death,” AP reported. The Pentagon later said it had opened an investigation into Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who appeared in the video, and the FBI then contacted the lawmakers seeking interviews, signaling what Slotkin described as a broader Justice Department inquiry.
Slotkin said that multiple legal advisers initially urged caution, including advice that the matter might go away if she kept quiet. She later described additional escalations in January, including that the lawmakers were contacted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, while security threats also intensified, AP reported. Slotkin said her farm in Michigan received a bomb threat; her brother was assigned a police detail due to threats; and her parents were swatted in the middle of the night. She said her father, who died in January after a long battle with cancer, “could barely walk and he’s dealing with the cops in his home.”
Slotkin told AP that after she saw those threats mount, she grew determined to push back. “And I said, ‘It’s not gonna stop unless I fight back,’” she said.
In a separate but related development involving other officials tied to the video controversy, Kelly has sued the Pentagon over attempts to punish him, according to AP. AP also reported that on Tuesday a federal judge said there was no U.S. Supreme Court precedent justifying the Pentagon’s censuring of Kelly as the judge considered whether to intervene.
Slotkin said she remains in contact with other lawmakers who appeared in the video but would not say what their plans were for the investigation. She also suggested that the political fallout from the “illegal orders” controversy has elevated some of the lawmakers’ national profile, including Kelly’s fundraising figure for the final months of 2025, which AP said topped $12.5 million, citing campaign finance filings.
Slotkin said she has been mentioned among Democrats who could emerge as presidential contenders in 2028. She previously represented one of the nation’s most competitive House districts before winning a Senate seat in Michigan in 2024, and she delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s address to Congress last year. She also said Democrats should confront Trump more aggressively, and she tied her own willingness to take risks to the idea that she would not ask others to act while refusing to do so herself.
As the Justice Department’s interview requests collide with Slotkin’s refusal, the dispute now turns on whether prosecutors pursue formal legal steps against a sitting senator or choose a different path in an inquiry that has already been challenged publicly.