Jeanine Pirro Reportedly Abandons Case Against Six Democratic Lawmakers

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File

D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is reportedly ending her office’s investigation into six Democratic members of Congress who advised service members and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders,” NBC reported on Monday.

Three people familiar with the case told the outlet that Pirro has opted to stop pursuing the probe. This month, a grand jury unanimously declined to indict Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), as well as Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA). In November, the six lawmakers, all of whom either served in the military or in U.S. intelligence, released a video telling people in those fields they have a legal obligation to refuse unlawful orders from superiors.

The video angered President Donald Trump, who said the lawmakers “should be in jail right now.”

“IT WAS SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, AND SEDITION IS A MAJOR CRIME. THERE CAN BE NO OTHER INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THEY SAID!” he wrote days after the video was released. He also claimed their actions might be “punishable by death.”

Pirro’s efforts to indict the lawmakers drew widespread criticism from legal experts. That no grand juror voted to indict was seen as a massive rebuke.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Pirro had abruptly ordered her office to seek indictments against the six lawmakers.

“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,” the Times stated. “Her prosecutors then faced a decision that many in the department under Mr. Trump have confronted: Comply or resist. They chose the first.”

The DOJ could still opt to pursue the case in another jurisdiction.

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