Military
US Senator: Trump abuses Justice Department
Updated 11/23/2025 – 8:50 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
US President Trump is bothered by a video from the Democrats – and threatens death for “insurrectionary behavior.” The Justice Department gets involved. One senator sees a pattern here.
In the dispute over threats from US President Donald Trump against several Democratic members of Congress, Senator Elissa Slotkin has stepped up. “It’s no secret that the president is trying to weaponize the Justice Department,” she told ABC News. “We have seen him act like this several times with different people. It is a tool to intimidate.”
This was preceded by a video in which six Democratic members of Congress, who themselves have a military or intelligence background, essentially called on members of the US military not to allow themselves to be put under pressure. “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders – you must refuse illegal orders,” it says. Nobody has to carry out orders that violate the law or the constitution.
Trump then made several posts on the Truth Social platform in which he accused a group of Democrats of “insurgent behavior by traitors.” In another post, he didn’t mention her by name, but wrote: “INSUBRANT BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” In addition, Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is subordinate to the Justice Department, intervened and demanded that members of Congress be held accountable.
Slotkin defended the release of the video. She and her colleagues were approached by some young officers who, as National Guardsmen or parts of military units in Latin America, were unsure whether they should carry out their orders. Asked whether she believed Trump had given illegal orders to the military so far, Slotkin replied: “I’m not aware of anything illegal, but there are certainly some legal maneuvers related to the attacks in the Caribbean and everything to do with Venezuela.”
On Saturday, the president tried to put his threats into perspective. “I’m not threatening them with death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. That used to mean death,” he said in an interview with Fox News Radio. In his view, the parliamentarians had broken the law by asking members of the US military to refuse orders from the US President.
