Scoop: Dem seeks police probe into Trump over "threatening" posts
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President Trump takes questions from reporters during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office on Nov. 18. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Rep. Jason Crow's (D-Colo.) office is seeking a U.S. Capitol Police investigation into President Trump for what they described as "intimidating, threatening, and concerning" social media posts he made.
Why it matters: It's highly unusual for a member of Congress to request a police investigation into a sitting president of the United States.
- Crow's request is a long shot and touches on murky and long-debated legal questions about the extent to which a president is subject to the normal processes of the criminal justice system.
- The White House has denied that Trump's posts appearing to label comments by a group of congressional Democrats urging service members to ignore illegal orders as "punishable by DEATH" constituted a threat.
Driving the news: In an email sent Thursday afternoon and obtained by Axios, Crow's office told the Capitol Police they were writing to "report threats made by the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, against Congressman Jason Crow."
- The email cited Trump's Truth Social posts calling the Democratic lawmakers "TRAITORS, demanding they be "ARRESTED and PUT ON TRIAL," and declaring, "LOCK THEM UP."
- It also pointed to Trump writing, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH," and reposting another post saying, "HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!"
What they're saying: "All of these posts by the President of the United States are intimidating, threatening, and concerning," Crow's office wrote in the email.
- "After these messages by the President, our congressional offices have seen a significant uptick in calls and emails with violent rhetoric and additional threats."
- They added: "We will continue to report those individually to U.S. Capitol Police and ask that they be investigated immediately."
- The Capitol Police declined to comment, telling Axios: "For safety reasons, we cannot discuss any potential investigations."
What happened: Crow, along with Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), recorded a video urging service members to defy unlawful orders.
- "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders ... you must refuse illegal orders," the lawmakers said in the video, which was posted to social media Tuesday.
- Trump responded with his Truth Social posts Thursday morning, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying at a press briefing later that day that they were not meant as threats.
The other side: "I'm not threatening them, but I think they're in serious trouble," Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade.
- "I'm not threatening death, but I think they're in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death. That was seditious behavior, that was a big deal," he said.
- Trump lamented that "today, nothing is a big deal. It's a softer world. It's a meeker milder world."
