House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried his best on Wednesday to back up President Donald Trump's crusade against members of Congress who posted a video reminding servicemembers they have a duty to refuse illegal orders. But he broke with the president on one key aspect of the case: whether they should be prosecuted for it.
The video, put out months ago by a number of lawmakers with a military background including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), prompted Trump and his allies to threaten them with prosecution and even suggest their actions are punishable by death.
Behind the scenes, the Justice Department tried to secure an indictment. On Tuesday night, a grand jury took the extraordinary step of outright rejecting the charges — the latest in a series of so-called "no true bills" blocking Trump-appointed prosecutors from filing apparently politically-motivated felony charges.
Asked by reporters about the affair, Johnson conceded the Democrats probably didn't do anything worthy of prosecution and imprisonment — but didn't back down from defending Trump's anger over the whole affair.
"A line is crossed and it's very serious when you have leaders here in the Senate and House effectively telling members of the military to defy orders," said Johnson. "It's a very dangerous gambit they were playing. Should they be sent to jail? Probably not, but we need to call it out as being wildly inappropriate."
The video came out during a period when the Trump administration was facing intense scrutiny for a series of proposed and actual military orders experts feared were unlawful — from bombing non-military ships in the Caribbean for alleged drug trafficking, to the deployment of the National Guard to crack down on anti-deportation protesters around the country.
