WASHINGTON ― Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday called out Republicans for staying largely quiet after Trump’s Justice Department sought to prosecute him and five other Democratic lawmakers who told U.S. service members not to follow illegal orders in a video last year.

“They tried to have us charged and thrown into jail because we said something they didn’t like,” Kelly said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “Where are the free speech absolutist Republicans now who were so concerned about the weaponization of government? What happened to them? Where are they?”

“This is the master alarm flashing for our democracy,” the senator warned. “It is threatening the very foundation of our system that we have a right to free speech to lawfully speak out and protest our government without fear of retaliation.”

On Tuesday, in an unprecedented move, a federal prosecutor attempted to indict the group of lawmakers over their speech, but a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected the effort. The group, all former military members, also included Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.), Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

The Democratic lawmakers have been a frequent target of Trump’s verbal and online attacks. At one point last year, Trump described their video urging U.S. troops to disobey “illegal” orders as seditious behavior, punishable by death. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also targeted Kelly by opening a Defense Department investigation into him and threatening to demote his military rank, despite the fact that Hegseth himself told troops a similar thing in 2016.

Republican lawmakers have largely stood by while Trump’s administration has used the levers of government to attack Democratic lawmakers, Democratic-run states, and other institutions on the left. The GOP’s silence is particularly glaring after their many complaints about the weaponization of government and DOJ probes into Trump under the Biden administration, such as the federal investigation into his incitement of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Only one Republican spoke out unprompted on Wednesday about the attempted indictment of Kelly and the other Democratic lawmakers this week: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). The retiring lawmaker issued an online post in which he said that “political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”

“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Tillis wrote. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were.”

Asked about the attempted indictment by a Punchbowl News reporter on Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) seemed to shrug by saying, “That’s the judicial system at work, I guess.”

Later, speaking to more reporters in the afternoon, Thune said Kelly and the other five Democrats made a “dumb” and “ill-advised” video to U.S. troops, but added he didn’t think they ought to be prosecuted for it.

“That wouldn’t have been my response to that, but we are where we are,” Thune said. “The indictment didn’t withstand the scrutiny of a grand jury. It was clear it was not going anywhere.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also seemed to break with the Trump administration, suggesting that DOJ should focus its time and attention elsewhere.

“I think our law enforcement people ought to be spending their time on making our community safe and going after real lawbreakers,” Grassley told Semafor.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), a close ally of Trump, said the Democratic lawmakers “probably should be indicted” over their video.

“I think that anytime you’re obstructing law enforcement and getting in the way of these sensitive operations, it’s a very serious thing, and it probably is a crime,” Johnson told MS NOW.

The fact that a grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers strongly indicates otherwise. Federal grand juries indict in the overwhelming majority of cases because they are only required determine if probable cause exists to charge someone rather than establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Democrats were apoplectic on Wednesday, warning that the Trump administration is pushing democracy to the brink by attempting to criminalize free speech.

“The failure of this indictment does not erase what it represents,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “A president willing to test whether the criminal justice system can be weaponized against democracy.”

“To my Republican colleagues: Silence in moments like this is not neutrality,” he added. “It is permission. It is submission. It is acquiescing to the possibility that our democracy may be dying.”

“It’s just a sad moment when anonymous grand jurors, just citizens called at random in Washington, D.C., have more bravery to uphold basic rule of law and stand for that than some of our colleagues here in the Senate,” Slotkin added in a press conference on Wednesday.

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