A couple of weeks ago, after several Democratic military veterans urged service members to reject illegal orders, the White House began a furious pushback campaign that was extreme, even by contemporary standards. Donald Trump helped lead the charge, insisting that the Democratic lawmakers, who’d done nothing wrong, had engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Around the same time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a crusade against one of the Democratic veterans, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who was in a unique position: The decorated Navy veteran is the only member of the group who retired as a captain and served long enough to receive a military pension.
If the Republican administration was going to target the other Democratic members, it needed to rely on the increasingly weaponized Justice Department — which is exactly what’s happening.
Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA officer who served three tours in Iraq, told The New York Times that federal prosecutors have begun investigating her. The newspaper reported that Jeanine Pirro — U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, former Fox News host and Trump loyalist — had sent an email to the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms, and requested an interview with the senator or her private counsel.
On Wednesday morning, Slotkin released a video statement pushing back against the brazen abuse:
Soon after, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who also appeared in the video to urge service members to follow the law, confirmed to MS NOW that the Justice Department has contacted his office and all of the other Democratic members involved in the message.
“Donald Trump called for my arrest, prosecution, and execution — all because I said something he didn’t like,” Crow said in a statement. Now he’s pressuring his political appointees to harass me for daring to speak up and hold him accountable. I won’t be intimidated and will keep fighting to uphold my oath to the Constitution and defend our country.”
Given these developments, it’s worth pausing to ask a broader question: Just how many Democratic officials have been targeted by Team Trump?
The growing list now includes former President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, Slotkin, Kelly, Crow, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. All things considered, that’s one heck of an enemies list. (I’m not including people such as former FBI Director James Comey, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook because there’s nothing to suggest they’re Democrats, though they certainly have been targeted after getting in the president’s way.) To date, no one in the administration has pointed to any credible evidence that any of these Democrats have engaged in wrongdoing whatsoever. In 2026, that apparently doesn’t matter. Reuters recently reported, “In his second term, Donald Trump has turned a campaign pledge to punish political opponents into a guiding principle of governance.” The Republican White House continues to find new ways to prove the thesis true.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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