In the latest escalation over a video urging military service members not to follow unlawful orders, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to interview six Congressional Democrats, including Western Pennsylvania’s Chris Deluzio.
The FBI’s interest was first reported Tuesday morning by Fox News, which said the agency and the Department of Justice have contacted Capitol Police to schedule interviews with the legislators.
Deluzio posted a group statement from the legislators Tuesday afternoon, confirming that the FBI had requested interviews, and contending that President Donald Trump “is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress.
“No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution,” the statement continued. “We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.”
The video in question addressed members of the armed forces and intelligence community directly, urging them not to follow unlawful orders. Together they argue that soldiers are sworn to uphold the Constitution but, as Deluzio says, “ the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.”
Deluzio and others said the video was merely an attempt to reinforce a lesson that was a regular part of military training: that claims to be “only following orders” were not a sufficient legal or moral defense for committing unlawful acts. But President Trump reacted angrily, posting on social media that the Democrats were guilty of sedition — a crime he falsely said was “punishable by death.”
Trump later said that he wasn’t threatening Democrats with death, but said the legislators were “in serious trouble” legally. Legal scholars have generally scoffed at such readings of the law, arguing that the legislators were, if anything, urging obedience to the law rather than defying the chain of command.
Prior to the announcement, FBI director Kash Patel told a reporter that “based on the fact that it’s an ongoing matter, there’s not much I can say” about the controversy, though he asserted that any decision about charging the Democrats, he said, “will be made by the career agents and the analysts here at the FBI.”
In a Tuesday interview with WESA, Deluzio referred to his public statement about the FBI inquiry, but reiterated that “I’m not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump or anyone else who’s doing his bidding.”
The FBI’s interest follows one day after the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration refers to as the Department of War, issued a social-media statement threatening a potential court martial of Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
The statement said the Pentagon had “received serious allegations of misconduct” against Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut. Kelly is retired but the Pentagon statement threatened to recall him to active duty for potential court-martial. Retirees, it said “remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice … and federal laws prohibit actions intended to interfere with the loyalty, moral, or good order and discipline of the armed forces.”
Deluzio, like all six of the Democrats involved in the video, is a former service member, having served in the Navy. Asked by WESA whether he was concerned the Pentagon could take similar action against him, he said that he had a different status than Kelly, but in any case “I’m no military lawyer, but I don’t think there’s any basis for them to be prosecuting Mark Kelly or any of us.
“These are basic lessons that are taught to brand-new recruits at boot camp [and] are reminded of throughout our time in uniform,” he said. “What is the president’s and his allies in law enforcement’s position? They’re gonna go arrest everyone who talks about the fundamental principle of obeying lawful orders and not being forced to follow illegal ones? It’s outrageous.”