'Petty and vindictive': GOP senators blast Trump over failed retribution attempt

Semafor reports that Senate Republicans are lining up to scold the Trump administration for trying and failing to indict six congressional Democrats over a video.

Even Republican senators who criticized the Democrats' video, which urged military members to disobey unlawful orders, made known that Trump’s politicized Justice Department set a poor precedent and brought a weak case.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) described the video as ‘terrible, terrible judgment,” but he quickly added that “trying to indict them for it was not a good idea.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) likewise, told Semafor in an interview that: “I would not have brought it were I the president,” as did Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Judiciary Committee chairman, who told Semafor that “our law enforcement people ought to be spending their time on making our community safe and going after real law-breakers.”

Other Republicans warned that Trump’s politicized case could “open the door” to similar politicized attempts to police congressional speech on Republicans.

“It’s very chilling, right? As a member of Congress, we have the Speech and Debate Clause. Not only as a member, but it’s a First Amendment right of speech here,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “We should not have an administration pursuing what I think is just kind of a petty and vindictive path against members of the other party.”

Trump’s DOJ failed to secure any indictments against Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), in addition to four House Democrats. Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck noted on Bluesky that Trump’s prosecutors failed to convince any jurors to indict their targets, despite the relative ease of convincing a grand jury to do so.

“It's one thing to get a ‘no true bill.’ It's quite another to get *shut out* in the grand jury,” said Vladeck.

“I’m not surprised that the grand jury declined to indict them,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Semafor. “I don’t think they should have [tried to indict them]. I spoke out about that very early on.”

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