‘Where Are They?’: Mark Kelly Calls Out GOP Silence After Attempted DOJ Indictment | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday referred to as out Republicans for staying largely quiet after Trump’s Justice Department sought to prosecute him and 5 different Democratic lawmakers who instructed U.S. service members to not comply with unlawful orders in a video final 12 months.

“They tried to have us charged and thrown into jail because we said something they didn’t like,” Kelly stated at a press convention on Capitol Hill. “Where are the free speech absolutist Republicans now who were so concerned about the weaponization of government? What happened to them? Where are they?”

“This is the master alarm flashing for our democracy,” the senator warned. “It is threatening the very foundation of our system that we have a right to free speech to lawfully speak out and protest our government without fear of retaliation.”

On Tuesday, in an unprecedented transfer, a federal prosecutor tried to indict the group of lawmakers over their speech, however a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected the hassle. The group, all former navy members, additionally included Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.), Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

The Democratic lawmakers have been a frequent goal of Trump’s verbal and on-line assaults. At one level final 12 months, Trump described their video urging U.S. troops to disobey “illegal” orders as seditious conduct, punishable by dying. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has additionally focused Kelly by opening a Defense Department investigation into him and threatening to demote his navy rank, even though Hegseth himself instructed troops the same factor in 2016.

Republican lawmakers have largely stood by whereas Trump’s administration has used the levers of presidency to assault Democratic lawmakers, Democratic-run states, and different establishments on the left. The GOP’s silence is especially obtrusive after their many complaints concerning the weaponization of presidency and DOJ probes into Trump underneath the Biden administration, such because the federal investigation into his incitement of the Jan. 6, 2021, rebel on the U.S. Capitol.

Only one Republican spoke out unprompted on Wednesday concerning the tried indictment of Kelly and the opposite Democratic lawmakers this week: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). The retiring lawmaker issued an internet submit by which he stated that “political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”

“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Tillis wrote. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were.”

Asked concerning the tried indictment by a Punchbowl News reporter on Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared to shrug by saying, “That’s the judicial system at work, I guess.”

Later, chatting with extra reporters within the afternoon, Thune stated Kelly and the opposite 5 Democrats made a “dumb” and “ill-advised” video to U.S. troops, however added he didn’t assume they must be prosecuted for it.

“That wouldn’t have been my response to that, but we are where we are,” Thune stated. “The indictment didn’t withstand the scrutiny of a grand jury. It was clear it was not going anywhere.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) additionally appeared to interrupt with the Trump administration, suggesting that DOJ ought to focus its time and a focus elsewhere.

“I think our law enforcement people ought to be spending their time on making our community safe and going after real lawbreakers,” Grassley instructed Semafor.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), a detailed ally of Trump, stated the Democratic lawmakers “probably should be indicted” over their video.

“I think that anytime you’re obstructing law enforcement and getting in the way of these sensitive operations, it’s a very serious thing, and it probably is a crime,” Johnson instructed MS NOW.

The truth {that a} grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers strongly signifies in any other case. Federal grand juries indict within the overwhelming majority of circumstances as a result of they’re solely required decide if possible trigger exists to cost somebody relatively than set up guilt past an inexpensive doubt.

Democrats had been apoplectic on Wednesday, warning that the Trump administration is pushing democracy to the brink by making an attempt to criminalize free speech.

“The failure of this indictment does not erase what it represents,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated. “A president willing to test whether the criminal justice system can be weaponized against democracy.”

“To my Republican colleagues: Silence in moments like this is not neutrality,” he added. “It is permission. It is submission. It is acquiescing to the possibility that our democracy may be dying.”

“It’s just a sad moment when anonymous grand jurors, just citizens called at random in Washington, D.C., have more bravery to uphold basic rule of law and stand for that than some of our colleagues here in the Senate,” Slotkin added in a press convention on Wednesday.