Rep. Crow signals legal action following administration efforts to charge 6 Democrats

Amna Nawaz:

A federal grand jury has at least temporarily halted the Trump administration’s efforts to prosecute Democratic lawmakers under the Sedition Act.

In November, six lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds published a letter urging members of their former communities to disobey illegal orders. Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin of Arizona and Michigan, respectively, participated in the video, as well as Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chris DiLuzio of Pennsylvania and Chrissy Houlahan.

The Trump administration has reportedly sought to indict all six.

One of these members now joins us. This is former Army representative Jason Crow from Colorado.

Congressman, welcome back to News Hour. Thank you for being with us.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado):

Thank you.

Amna Nawaz:

I want to offer you the response we heard today from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson in response to the Justice Department’s failure to bring charges. This is what he told reporters.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Los Angeles):

Any time you obstruct law enforcement and get in the way of these sensitive operations, it is extremely dangerous and may even be a crime. And yes, they should probably be charged.

Amna Nawaz:

What is your response to your council leader?

Representative Jason Crow:

Well, it’s too bad that Speaker Johnson continues to prostrate himself and sell his soul to Donald Trump.

But let’s be really clear. The man never served a single day in his life in military uniform. I have gone to war three times for this country in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a paratrooper and I was an Army Ranger. From my first day in training camp, we learned the law of war. We learned about the Constitution.

Before we deployed, I sat down my men, soldiers and paratroopers and taught them their obligations under the law and the Constitution. This is inherent in service.

Amna Nawaz:

So your attorney, Abby Lowell, is now asking the U.S. Attorney and D.C. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, who is seeking these charges, to preserve all evidence, all documents, and all materials related to this case.

Why is this? Are you going to seek some legal recourse here?

Representative Jason Crow:

Yes, it’s because I’m unwilling to sit back and let the political idiots in the administration and the Department of Justice throw bomb after bomb my way and keep my head down.

They threatened us. They tried to bully and intimidate us. They failed. They will always fail. And if they think they’re going to take us back, they have another idea coming. So what I’m trying to explain to them is that they tried to send us a message. They failed.

So I have a message for them now. There will be a cost to this. There will be accountability for this. If you turn your back on the Constitution, if you abuse your position of government, your position of public trust, if you abuse the process, we will seek accountability as long as it takes.

Amna Nawaz:

What does this cost or accountability look like? Will the administration sue and take other action in Congress?

Representative Jason Crow:

Well, I’m not going to get into the legal strategy, but some of that goes back to Donald Trump and the administration. If they want to continue to abuse the process and use the American justice system as a weapon against political opponents and against Congress, then yes, there will be recourse, and we will not sit back and take it.

So they kind of have the ball in their heart. They have a decision to make.

Amna Nawaz:

You know, all of this evidence was presented to a grand jury that declined to bring charges here. You’ve heard it said, I’m sure, that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich because of this lower legal standard in a grand jury rather than a criminal trial.

The fact that this group of Americans refused to indict anyone, the fact that we now have a different grand jury that refuses to re-indict Letitia James, who is another political enemy of the president, does all of this tell you that the system, at least this part of the system, is working?

Representative Jason Crow:

Yes, that’s exactly the message here, is that the founders of our Constitution knew that this could happen, and they knew that the scenario that happened yesterday could happen, which is that you would have a runaway, rogue, lawless administration that would abuse the system.

The system works. This is actually a failure. This is blowing again. Let’s be clear here that they thought they would calm the opposition. They thought they would intimidate and bully Americans, because the message was not directed at us. They came after us to send a message to America that if you dare get out of line, we will come for you and the cost will be very high.

But what happened instead was that it awakened the courage, perseverance, and resilience of the American people, just as it had done in Minneapolis. Every time they abuse the process, kill Americans, go after political opponents, the tide continues to turn in favor of democracy.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, are you at all concerned that federal prosecutors might seek an indictment through other means?

Representative Jason Crow:

They might do that. They might try.

I mean, God knows they’ve tried repeatedly before, but we’ll be ready, right? Listen, nothing they’re going to do here to go after me and go after people in my position is going to make me quit my job.

Amna Nawaz:

So let me go back to that original message that you and others posted urging members of the military to remember their oath and disobey illegal orders. Do you yourself now believe that President Trump is issuing and that military and intelligence officers are carrying out illegal or illegal orders?

Representative Jason Crow:

I believe Donald Trump has broken the law by sending our military to do things without getting permission from Congress. I think they broke the law with several strikes in the Caribbean.

We know they broke the law by sending the National Guard to multiple states because the courts overturned those deployments. He threatened to send troops to polling stations, which is a violation of US criminal law. He threatened to shoot protesters in Lafayette Square in his first administration.

He threatened to kill the terrorists’ family members and children, which would be a violation of the law of war and constitute murder under US law. So, if he carries out any of those threats and puts our service members in that position, what we wanted to do is remind them that the American people will have their back, that Congress will have their back, and that their Constitution and, again, the rule of law is their north star.

Amna Nawaz:

And since you’re talking directly to these service members now, they’ve just seen the Department of Justice trying to charge sitting lawmakers, right, to get this message out about disobeying illegal orders. Why do they think the system will protect them if they come forward or disobey those orders?

Representative Jason Crow:

Well, we’ll support them, for example.

The tide is turning and the Americans are rising. They are tired of corruption. They are tired of Donald Trump and his family lining their pockets at their expense. They are tired of military adventures.

You know, Donald Trump bombed seven countries in his first year. They’ve had enough of that. And I’ve had enough of that. And they want something new and different. And they go up. So, yes, I have amazing confidence that the American people will join us to restore their democracy.

Amna Nawaz:

This is Congressman Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, joining us tonight.

Congressman, thank you. It’s good to talk to you.

Representative Jason Crow:

Thank you