type: timeline_event
A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected the Department of Justice's attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a November 2025 video urging military and intelligence officials to refuse illegal orders from the Trump administration. None of the grand jurors who heard the prosecution's case believed DOJ had met even the low threshold of probable cause required for indictment, dealing a significant blow to the administration's retribution campaign against political opponents.
Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, led by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, sought to charge the lawmakers—all military and intelligence veterans including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, and Rep. Jason Crow (a former Army ranger who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan). President Trump had attacked the Democrats for the video, calling their comments "seditious" and demanding they be "arrested and put on trial" for urging service members to uphold their constitutional oaths.
The grand jury rejection marked the latest in a series of failed political prosecutions. In December 2025, a grand jury in Virginia refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud; federal prosecutors tried again a week later with the same result—a remarkable double rebuke from grand jurors. Rep. Jason Crow launched a counterattack, warning of legal action unless DOJ folds its retribution effort. The six lawmakers remained concerned about further prosecution attempts despite the rejection.
The failed indictments became a central issue at Attorney General Pam Bondi's February 11 House Judiciary hearing, where Rep. Jamie Raskin told Bondi: "You turned the people's Department of Justice into Trump's instrument of revenge." The grand jury's refusal to indict represents a critical institutional check on prosecutorial abuse, with ordinary citizens rejecting DOJ's politicized charging decisions. Legal observers noted that grand juries typically side with prosecutors given the low probable cause standard, making the rejection particularly significant as evidence of cases brought for purely political rather than legal reasons.