‘Own Their Choices’
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) has refused to meet for a voluntary interview with Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host-turned-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
You’ll recall Pirro sent Slotkin a letter in January requesting an interview with the senator or her personal lawyer just days after President Trump reportedly tore into a group of U.S. attorneys, including Pirro, at the White House for not being swift enough in acting on his retribution agenda.
Slotkin was one of a handful of members of Congress who participated in a video last year during which she, a former CIA official, and a group of Democratic lawmakers and veterans called on members of the military to not act on illegal orders from the Trump administration. Shortly after the video was released, Trump made it his personal mission to threaten the Democratic lawmakers with prosecution or worse, including suggesting they should be hanged for sedition.
Trump’s administration officials/cronies seemed to get right on it shortly after. The FBI quickly requested interviews with the members of Congress — which included Slotkin and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Jason Crow (D-CO) — and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched proceedings to punish Kelly, a former astronaut who retired as a Navy captain, including an attempt to strip him of his rank and pension. Kelly is suing Hegseth over the whole ordeal and, at a preliminary injunction hearing this week, a Bush-appointee federal district court judge criticized the Trump administration’s approach and suggested it was appalling for them to insinuate that a veteran and member of Congress should be punished for criticizing the Defense Department.
In letters first obtained by the Associated Press, Slotkin’s lawyer — former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was ousted during Trump’s first term for overseeing an investigation into the then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price — told Pirro that Slotkin would not agree to an interview with her office voluntarily. Bharara also reportedly told Pirro to “preserve all documents related to the matter for ‘anticipated litigation,'” in the AP’s words.
Bharara also sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to the FBI’s request for an interview, rejecting it and asking Bondi to shut down any investigations into Slotkin over the video, arguing that doing so is an infringement on Slotkin’s constitutional rights.
The refusal marks a potential turning point in the standoff, shifting the burden onto the Justice Department to decide whether it will escalate an investigation into sitting members of Congress or retreat from an inquiry now being openly challenged.
“I did this to go on offense,” Slotkin said in an interview Wednesday. “And to put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. To put them in a position where they have to own their choices of using a U.S. attorney’s office to come after a senator.”
At Least One Senate Republican Urges Thune To Blow Up Filibuster Over SAVE Act
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has thrown very cold water on initial pressure from President Trump to sidestep the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE Act, a deeply-ominous-for-voting-rights piece of legislation that would overhaul election administration nationally, mandating documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote (it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections), disenfranchising millions of Americans.
During conversations with the White House this week, Trump reportedly convinced House Republicans who were opposed to helping pass legislation to pull the government out of a partial shutdown without the SAVE bill attached to the funding package that they could pass the bill in the Senate via a “talking filibuster.” Thune quickly shut down talk of killing or changing the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, warning about the potential future “ramifications” (a.k.a. what Democrats could do when they’re back in power).
“We will vote on the SAVE Act,” Thune said. “But exercising or triggering a talking filibuster has ramifications, implications that I think everybody needs to be aware of. So we will have those discussions. But that obviously ties the floor up for an indefinite amount of time, with not only unlimited debate, but also unlimited amendments, all of which can reset the clock.”
But members of his conference, specifically Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a bill sponsor, are calling on Thune to change his mind.
“Return to Senate tradition. Require filibustering senators to (gasp) actually speak,” Lee posted on X. “Using existing Senate rules. Pass the SAVE America Act.”
It is unclear if other Senate Republicans besides Lee are supportive of such a dramatic move, but most who have spoken about it are against it. The SAVE Act passed the House last year but it has not received a vote in the Senate. The House is expected to vote on an updated version of the bill, which will also mandate a photo ID to order to vote in addition to the proof of citizenship requirement for registering.
Speaking of the Assault On Voting Rights
TPM is resurrecting The Franchise, a weekly newsletter that we used to send out back in the day, starting before and continuing while President Trump began spreading deranged conspiracy theories about his loss in the 2020 election. (You can sign up to receive it in your inbox here!)
In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election and MAGA’s various attempts to sow doubt in states’ election administration processes and spread conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud (conveniently, in locales where Democrats won or typically win elections), former TPM reporter Matt Shuham used The Franchise to meticulously track the Big Lie and all its tentacles and permutations.
With Trump’s undying fixation with the 2020 election back in the news this week — and everything else his Justice Department and White House is attempting to do to act on his fever dream to “nationalize” elections, seize voter data from states, force mid-cycle gerrymandering and, potentially, intimidate voters at the polls this fall — we figured it was an apt time to bring The Franchise back to TPM readers’ inboxes. TPM reporter Khaya Himmelman, who covers all things voting rights for TPM, will be your guide through the muck.
You can read the first issue of The Franchise here and sign up here.
In Case You Missed It
Morning Memo: The Upside Down World of the Buffoonish Ed Martin
TPM Cafe: Donald Trump Became President By Appealing to Conspiracy Theorists — Now He’s Driving Them Away
Khaya Himmelman: The Franchise Newsletter: Welcome Back!
Josh Marshall: ‘Do You Speak Billionaire?’ and Other Stories From the Fall of the Washington Post
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Judge Incredulous as Trump Lawyer Asks Him to Create New Law for Mark Kelly Retribution Crusade
What We Are Reading
Pentagon warns Scouts: Ban girls or we will pull your funding
Trump’s FBI raid could lead to a takeover of elections in Georgia’s largest county
This is a great move by Senator Slotkin.
“Konztitooshunal skolar” Mike Lee (as the great Charles Pierce dubbed him): still a f*cking idiot.
Sen. Slotkin is protected by the 1st Amendment and the Speech & Debate clause as well as her Article I DUTY to provide Oversight of the ENTIRE Article 2: Executive Branch.
AG Bondi and US Attorney Pirro’s attempts to intimidate Sen. Slotkin or the other Patriotic Six are pathetic and totally wrong-headed. Our government was built on checks and balances. If Trump, Hegseth, Bondi or Pirro are so thin-skinned that they can’t take a little constructive criticism, they should resign and find something else to do for a living.
While they are at it, they can take their pet bald baboon, Miller with them.
Mike Lee is absolutely one of the worst people alive. Boot leather is his favorite taste.
They are not very good at this. When attempts are made to limit voting, this makes voters mad. Voters have to be aware of what’s going on, however. What the Republicans seem to be doing is giving Democrats an unlimited forum to talk about the problem.
Bring It on.