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Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., admitted she was “not aware” of whether President Donald Trump has issued any illegal orders to the military following backlash to a controversial video she posted last week.
Slotkin faced questions during an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” about the recent reaction to a social media video she and five other Democratic lawmakers made encouraging service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
“Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal orders?” host Martha Raddatz asked.
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“To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela,” Slotkin responded.
Raddatz pressed for specific accusations, and Slotkin pointed to her concerns over Trump deploying National Guard troops across the country.
“When you look at these videos coming out of places like Chicago, it makes me incredibly nervous that we are about to see people in law enforcement, people in uniform, military get nervous, get stressed, shoot at American civilians,” Slotkin said.
“It is a very, very stressful situation for these law enforcement [officers] and for the communities on the ground. So it was basically a warning to say if you are asked to do something, particularly against American citizens, you have the ability to go to your [Judge Advocate General] JAG officer and push back,” the lawmaker added.
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Raddatz followed up, noting that the original video “does imply that the president is having illegal orders, which you have not seen.”
“I think for us, it was just a statement widely, right?” Slotkin said. “We say very quickly and to all the folks who come to us, this is the process. Go to your JAG officer, ask them for explanation for top cover for their view on things. We do that on a case-by-case basis, but we wanted to speak directly to the volumes of people who came to us on this.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Slotkin pointed to the senator’s earlier remarks regarding her concerns about the “legal gymnastics” surrounding Trump’s actions on Venezuela.
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The video posted by Slotkin received backlash from conservative lawmakers and commentators, who alleged it was an appeal to defy presidential orders.
Trump responded on Truth Social on Saturday, calling the Democrats in the video “traitors.”
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“It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime. There can be no other interpretation of what they said!” Trump wrote.
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