Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin speaks out after grand jury declines to indict Democratic lawmakers over video

A grand jury on Tuesday declined to indict Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers after they appeared in a video last year urging military service members to resist following illegal orders.

"If things went a different way, we'd be preparing for arrest," said Slotkin on Wednesday. "This started with a 90-second video in November that a group of us organized, all of us with military and service backgrounds, simply restating the law in the Uniform Code of military justice." 

President Trump called for an investigation after the video was posted, accusing the lawmakers of "seditious behavior," punishable by death." Last week, Slotkin refused to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation.

The video featured Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris DeLuzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire. 

"For that, President Trump said that we should be investigated, arrested and ultimately hanged," said Slotkin. 

Slotkin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024, was a former CIA officer who worked in national security-focused posts in both the Bush and Obama administrations. She went on to explain that she feels the investigation from the Trump administration wasn't really about what lawmakers said in the video. 

"To be clear, this is not about the content of this one video. Let's call it for what it is, the President is using our justice system to weaponize against his perceived enemies," she said.

Slotkin said she hopes that this is the end of the investigation, but noted that she is keeping other legal options, like future lawsuits. 

"Sen. Kelly and I have both served our country, we have risked our lives for our country. This country has given me everything, so if we have to sit here and take physical intimidation and legal intimidation to uphold the country that we love, we will happily do that," Slotkin said. 

CBS News Detroit reached out to the Department of Justice on Wednesday for comment, but did not hear back.