Jeanine Pirro ‘Abruptly Instructed’ Federal Prosecutors to Pursue Indictment Against 6 Democratic Lawmakers: NYT

Albin Lohr-Jones/Picture-Alliance/DPA/AP Images

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro shocked her own prosecutors when she instructed them to seek indictments of six lawmakers, according to a new report.

The New York Times published on Wednesday new details about Pirro’s failed attempt to indict multiple Democratic lawmakers who earned President Donald Trump’s ire with a video urging military members to not follow “illegal orders.”

Department of Justice prosecutors reportedly failed to secure an indictment of the lawmakers with a grand jury rejecting the idea they had done anything illegal. In the video, the lawmakers, all of whom served in the military or intelligence community, warned of “threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.”

The lawmakers included in the video are: Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D- MI), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Chris Deluzio (D- PA).

Kelly previously announced a civil lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after he suggested the video could lead to a reduction in military rank and pay for Kelly.

According to the Times, citing six people familiar with the situation, prosecutors contacted lawyers for each of the lawmakers, but the conversations were “genial.” The prosecutors warned that the investigation was still in its early stages. After two weeks, however, Pirro shocked some by demanding they follow through with indictments.

The Times report reads:

For reasons that remain unclear, Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump, abruptly instructed her team to seek an indictment of the lawmakers, all of whom had served in the armed forces or the intelligence community. Her prosecutors then faced a decision that many in the department under Mr. Trump have confronted: Comply or resist. They chose the first.

Pirro has now set the case to the side though she could at some point revisit it, according to the Times.

The president originally accused the lawmakers who participated in the video of sedition, noting at one point it is punishable by death.

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