Democratic senator sparks controversy over comments on Trump administration investigation

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin is drawing criticism from President Donald Trump and other top Republicans after suggesting that congressional investigations could dissuade recent graduates from joining the Trump administration.

The controversy stems from Slotkin’s remarks at an event at the University of Chicago last week, when he was asked how Congress could reassert its role in policing the Trump administration. Slotkin said that if Democrats regain a majority in Congress, they should seek to pass major domestic bills and use their oversight powers to focus on “iconic” examples of corruption by the Trump administration, targeting not only the president but also his aides who carried out his “orders.”

“I want to look at these iconic cases and not just focus on the president but on the people who enabled him,” the Michigan Democrat said. “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’ … I want them to say, “God, this could buy me a ton of trouble that I don’t want.” So let me avoid participating in this. I want this message of deterrence to be sent.

The remarks sparked backlash from Republicans, including Trump, who on Monday called Slotkin “a scoundrel who is ruining his state.”

“What they’re doing is really discouraging people from getting into politics. No, armed Democratic government, that’s what they’ve done,” Trump said when asked about the senator’s remarks.

Senator Mike Lee accused Slotkin of threatening politically inclined young Americans. Mike Davis, head of a conservative legal group, accused her of trying to dissuade young people from government and wrote that she should “learn about the Second Amendment, sweetheart.”

Slotkin said Davis, in those comments, was suggesting she be shot, and that this amounted to mobilizing “death threats” against her and her team “for sport.”

Davis later said: “Elissa Slotkin can pretend she’s the victim all she wants, but she specifically called for the arrest of political opponents to dissuade their young supporters from public service. This is classic fascism.”

The controversy over these comments comes in the final sprint of the midterm elections, with Democrats growing increasingly optimistic about their ability to win the House and potentially even the Senate. Both parties are already preparing for what is expected to be a wave of congressional investigations into the Trump administration if Democrats prevail.

A group that identifies itself as the University of Chicago’s “leading conservative and libertarian student-run publication” excerpted part of Slotkin’s comments in an X-rated post, which has been viewed more than 7 million times. In response to the clip, Lee wrote: “It is absolutely shameful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country. »

Slotkin said in response on X that the Utah Republican was “lying about what I said” and wrote, “spare us the manufactured outrage.”

The Michigan senator noted in her message and in an interview with CNN that she was a target of Trump’s Justice Department, which investigated her and other Democratic lawmakers after she released a video urging military and intelligence officials to disobey any illegal orders from the administration.

“What I want to say is, don’t get involved in illegal activities,” she said Monday night on “The Lead.” “This is the same thing I was talking about a year ago. Whether you’re a military member in uniform or a civilian in government, if the president or his team asks you to do something that is illegal, you have a responsibility to reject that. That’s my view.”

Other Trump administration officials, including Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, blasted Slotkin’s comments.

“This is incredibly disappointing and unprofessional for a United States Senator to endorse political prosecutions to deter patriotic Americans from serving their country,” he wrote. “In contrast, at @USOPM we believe in recruiting the best and brightest prospects early in their careers.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.