Democratic Sens. Kelly and Slotkin say they won't be intimidated after DOJ indictment fails

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News

February 11, 2026, 3:29 PM


Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly vowed Wednesday to continue to push back against the Trump administration after the Justice Department's failed attempt to secure an indictment against them over a video they made last year telling members of the military that they are not required to follow illegal orders.

"Sen. Slotkin and I, we did not ask for this, we're just the first through the breach, but you'll be damn sure that we are not going to back down. We've been in war zones for this country. We've fought our country's enemies. This doesn't intimidate us. And we know that this is much bigger than the two of us," Kelly said.

The press conference came after the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, D.C., failed to convince a grand jury to indict Kelly, Slotkin and Democratic Reps. Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan and Chris DeLuzio, all of whom are former members of the military or intelligence community.

Kelly said news of the grand jury's rejection of the case was not a "good news story." "This is a story about how Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to break our system in order to silence anyone who lawfully speaks out against them and to send a signal to every American that they better think twice before they speak out or they might be next," Kelly said.

Read more: https://abcnews.com/Politics/democratic-sens-kelly-slotnick-intimidated-after-doj-indictment/story?id=130066498

[SalamanderSleeps]

1. Ham sandwich meet asshole.

[DFW]

2. I'm not worried that they'll stand their ground, either

Neither of them scare easily. Mark is coming over here next week. He has a full schedule, but we’ll try and fit in an hour for coffee down in Paris, where I know he’ll be toward the end of the week. I’m still pretty sure he still has no presidential plans, but if he is starting to change his mind (and if I’m allowed to say so!), I’ll pass it along.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. MaddowBlog-Democrats want to turn the tables on Pirro following failed indictment effort

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described this week’s circumstances as “a constitutional crisis.” There’s every reason to believe he was right.

The DOJ tried to charge sitting members of Congress, who’d done nothing, with felonies that would’ve sent them to prison for decades.

Despite the gambit's failure, Schumer characterized the effort itself as “a constitutional crisis.” I don’t think that’s hyperbolic. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-12T16:53:14.847Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/democrats-want-to-turn-the-tables-on-pirro-following-failed-indictment-effort

This marked the latest in a series of embarrassments for Pirro and Donald Trump’s unraveling Justice Department, but the “no bill” failure, overseen by prosecutors with unfortunate backgrounds, did not close the book on the fiasco.

On the contrary, some of the targets of this ridiculous gambit appear eager to turn the tables on those who went after them. Politico reported:

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Wednesday demanded U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro preserve all evidence related to her unsuccessful effort to bring charges against him and five other Democratic lawmakers. […]

In a letter sent Wednesday to Pirro’s office, Abbe Lowell, Crow’s attorney, called the effort to indict Crow and the other Democrats involved in the video ‘a breathtaking and unprecedented level of prosecutorial overreach and misuse of power.’

A week earlier, after Sen. Elissa Slotkin told the Justice Department that she wouldn’t cooperate with its baseless investigation, the Michigan Democrat’s lawyers also requested that Pirro preserve all documents related to the matter for “anticipated litigation.”

Time will tell what, if anything, comes of this, but it’s also worth pausing to appreciate the larger context. After the grand jury dismissed the case as nonsensical, it was easy to mock Pirro and her assigned prosecutors over their humiliating failure, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: Federal prosecutors wanted to bring serious felony charges against sitting members of Congress who’d done nothing wrong. If successful, the charges would have sent lawmakers to prison for many years.

That’s more than just bonkers. It’s also a dangerous step down an authoritarian path.

.....“I say to my Republican colleagues, if the executive branch can merely attempt to prosecute members of the legislative branch for simply exercising free speech, that is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem, it is a constitutional crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Trump prosecutors were asked which law Democrats broke - and they couldn't name even one

Normally an indictment has to list the statutes on which the charges are based

President Donald Trump's alleged vengeance campaign against his political enemies has thus far flopped as his at times under-qualified loyalists fail to secure indictments, and new reports are emerging about the latest fiasco.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-02-18T20:01:18.853Z

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-prosecution-democratic-lawmakers

President Donald Trump's alleged vengeance campaign against his political enemies has thus far flopped as his at times under-qualified loyalists fail to secure indictments, and new reports are emerging about the latest fiasco.

Federal prosecutors failed to persuade a single grand jury member that there was probable cause to indict six Democratic lawmakers who produced a video reminding military service members they were duty-bound to disobey unlawful orders, and The New Republic's Greg Sargent reported that even prosecutors weren't sure what law they might have broken.

"Here’s what happened: After the FBI communicated with the Democratic lawmakers, prosecutors in Pirro’s office reached out to them to follow up," Sargent wrote. "Slotkin’s attorney, Preet Bharara, directly asked prosecutors what statute the Democrats had allegedly violated to prompt the criminal inquiry, according to sources familiar with these discussions. The prosecutors could not name any statute, the sources told me."

“'What is the theory of criminal liability?' is the question that was posed to the prosecutors, one source said, adding that 'no answer was forthcoming.'"

Prosecutors went forward in their attempt to indict the members of Congress without naming any violated statute, and Sargent said that it still hasn't been definitively confirmed what statue they used in their ultimately doomed grand jury hearing.

"The failure to name a relevant statute when directly asked to do so by the lawyers for the accused suggests prosecutors didn’t think a criminal prosecution was warranted or doubted there was probable cause to think the Democrats had committed a crime," Sargent wrote. "In fact, one source familiar with these discussions tells me the prosecutors’ general tone in them suggested they were making the sort of inquiry that normally comes at the very outset of the investigative process."

One of the sources said that prosecutors – neither of whom had much prior experience – seemed to be at the "very preliminary" stage in their investigation when they presented their evidence to a grand jury, and Sargent said that's a worrisome sign.

"For the DOJ to seek an indictment so soon after conversations like those suggests something or other prompted the rush to indict, perhaps a word from on high that — let’s go way out on a limb here — had little to do with facts and law," he wrote. "Legal experts tell me it’s odd for prosecutors to fail to state any theory of criminal liability and then attempt an indictment anyway so quickly."

[bluestarone]

5. Could these two become our answer to

2028? I'm thinking there is a good chance!!

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Kelly perhaps

but Slotkin is way down on the "progressive policies" scoring list (although to be fair, she has only been in office for a brief time) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3617974