U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche condemned an “alarming” video by Democrats and suggested lawmakers should be investigated for telling military members to ignore President Donald Trump.
Blanche spoke on “Hannity” on Wednesday about a video featuring Democrats telling servicemembers and the CIA to “refuse illegal orders” from Trump, suggesting to Fox News host Sean Hannity that the lawmakers “should be required to answer questions” about their actions.
The video posted online by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) featured her and five other lawmakers saying that “threats to the Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but right here at home.”
“You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders,” they said.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“I hope you found it alarming, and so did I, and so did hopefully every American,” Blanche told Hannity. “You have members of Congress, members of the Senate, encouraging members of our military and members of our intelligence community to go and defy orders.”
“And this is abhorrent conduct. I felt like I was watching a propaganda video by one of our enemies trying to recruit the military to become spies,” Blanche said.
On whether the lawmakers’ actions constitute a crime, Blanche said, “You tell me what it is.”
“What is the reason for saying what they said, except for to encourage members of our military, to encourage members of our intelligence community to defy a direct command from their superior, and that is wrong,” he said.
“Does this need to be investigated, and what would the investigation be under?” Hannity asked.
“What is the reason that they all went on a video and encouraged young men and women to defy court orders? Without even giving a hint of what’s illegal, without giving any suggestion of what law or what order they are being asked to violate,” Blanche replied, noting that “intent” would be the focus of any probe.
“You cannot do that in this country, especially if you’re a leader. And so what does the investigation look like? I think they should be held to account. I think that those congressmen should be required to answer questions about why they did what they did, and the American people deserve that, and so does President Trump,” he said.
Hannity read off the federal law against rebellion or insurrection, asking Blanche if the lawmakers in the video were guilty of violating the regulation.
“Look, I’m not convicting anybody tonight on this show,” Blanche replied.
“But I will tell you something, and that is, this is a disgusting and inappropriate display of supposed leadership from the Democrat Party. These men and women should not have described themselves as former members of the military or former members of the intelligence community. They should have described themselves as Democrats who lost and Democrats who don’t like the result of last November, because there are no laws being violated. There are no orders that have been given that are unconstitutional or illegal,” he continued, adding that the Justice Department would be taking a “closer look” at the issue.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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