In this conversation, Hawk discusses the recent refusal of a grand jury in Washington DC to indict six Democratic members of Congress, highlighting the implications of this decision in the context of political accountability and the justice system. He emphasizes the importance of the First Amendment and the legal obligations of military personnel to disobey illegal orders, while critiquing the actions of the Trump administration and its allies.
A Washington DC grand jury refused to indict six Democratic members of Congress after Trump administration prosecutors sought felony charges of seditious conspiracy. The lawmakers targeted include Senator Mark Kelly, Representative Alyssa Slotkin, and Representative Jason Crow, all military veterans who released a video reminding service members of their legal obligation to disobey illegal orders. Attorney General Pam Bondi and US Attorney Janine Pirro brought the case before the grand jury, seeking 20-plus year prison sentences for the Congress members. The grand jury rejected the prosecution's attempt, demonstrating ordinary citizens standing against political prosecution.
Trump had posted on Truth Social demanding punishment for what he called seditious behavior, even suggesting execution. Speaker Mike Johnson supported the prosecution attempt, claiming the lawmakers were obstructing law enforcement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the six lawmakers the "seditious six" and initiated proceedings against Mark Kelly to reduce his military rank and retirement pay. The video these Congress members released simply restated existing military law under the Uniform Code of Military Justice regarding illegal orders.
This marks a pattern of federal prosecutors failing to secure indictments in politically motivated cases, with grand juries and trial juries across the country rejecting attempts to weaponize the criminal justice system. The grand jury's decision represents citizens protecting constitutional rights and the rule of law against authoritarian overreach by Trump appointees at the Department of Justice.
Hawk (00:01.166)
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I am Hawk. It is Thursday morning, February 12, about 945am West Coast time. I want to talk about something that has been a bit overshadowed in the news cycles of this week with yesterday's testimony of Pam Bondi and her having a full on mental health breakdown on live television over the course of about six hours. But a couple days ago,
A grand jury in Washington DC refused to indict six sitting Democratic members of Congress. The Trump administration and Judge Box a wine Janine Pirro, who is the US Attorney for Washington DC had sought to get six sitting Democratic members of Congress indicted on felony charges. Remember that these six members including Alyssa slotkin, Jason Crow,
and Mark Kelly, all of whom have previously served in the military. Most of them have served in combat roles in the military over the years. And last fall, these six Democratic members of the House and the Senate put out a video reminding members of the military of their legal and constitutional obligation to disobey illegal orders, if they were to receive any.
They didn't give any specific examples. They didn't name Donald Trump specifically or Pete Hegseth, specifically in the video that they put out. They put out a video that simply stated the law that members of the military have an obligation to disobey illegal orders. Now, we've seen members of the military obeying illegal orders in recent months.
with the Venezuelan boat strikes that have been happening. Those are just simply straight up murder. And there is no statute of limitations on murder. And while the military is part of the executive branch, the only member of the executive branch that the Supreme Court chose to give immunity from criminal prosecution is the president. Members of the military do not enjoy that immunity if they obey an illegal order and murder someone.
Hawk (02:29.166)
We've seen prosecutions for those things in the past, even though Donald Trump has pardoned some of those adjudicated war criminals. anybody who's followed me for any length period of time, I was a trial attorney for 28 years. I just retired a couple of months ago. so matters of the law.
especially as it relates to current events in the news is one of the primary areas that I speak about on my channel here. And it is a remarkable thing that the President of the United States ordered his Attorney General to indict six sitting Democratic members of Congress on felony charges. DOJ is supposed to be independent
from the president from the executive office. Donald Trump has done away with any pretense whatsoever of that. Pam Bondi takes orders explicitly from Donald Trump and she is happy to do so as does Judge box of wine Jeanine Pirro and
prosecutors from I don't think any line prosecutors from Jeanine Pirro's office were willing to do this. I believe that she had to bring in volunteer prosecutors from other parts of the country to present evidence to a grand jury in Washington DC, seeking indictments against these six six sitting Democratic members of Congress on charges of seditious conspiracy. seditious conspiracy can net you
20 plus years in prison. And seditious conspiracy was what many of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers had been charged with following the insurrection in January 6. And many of them received prison sentences of between 15 and 25 years. Donald Trump pardoned or commuted all of those sentences. He didn't pardon all of those people, but he did commute a lot of
Hawk (04:45.39)
He did commute the sentences of people who he didn't give an outright pardon to. you know, so I'm gonna read parts of an article from the New York Times that's dated February 10th. I'm recording this on February 12th, because this really does need to get more attention on it. The fact that the president of the United States ordered his attorney general to prosecute six sitting
Democratic members of the House and the Senate. A, for using their First Amendment rights. B, arguably, you know, the speech and debate clause would apply and they would have immunity from any type of civil or criminal prosecution or case. B, they're members of the military. They are sitting members of Congress.
and Donald Trump wanted to put them in prison for 20 years because they said something that he didn't like. And we'll get to his response here in a couple of minutes within this article. I mean, first of all, when news came out that this indictment attempt had failed, someone asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, what he thought about the DOJ's failure to indict six of his sitting colleagues.
And Mike Johnson said, and we're going to dissect this for a second. 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. And yes, they probably should be indicted. Nobody said anything about law enforcement. We're talking about the military. Military takes orders. Military has its own legal system, the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
In the uniformed military, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it says that you are not permitted to obey illegal orders. These members of Congress simply stated the law. Mike Johnson doesn't know what he's doing. He's has since day one been in over his head. He does what Donald Trump tells him to do. Period. That's it. That's how Mike Johnson functions as Speaker of the House. It's pathetic.
Hawk (07:07.626)
I mean, it is pathetic. Mike Johnson is a pathetic man. He's, he's number two in the line of succession behind the vice president. He is second in line to the presidency, man. He's third, excuse me, he's third in line, second in line. The president's not in line. He's already in the office. He's second in line for the presidency and he just does.
whatever the president tells him to do whenever the president tells him to do it. He is a pathetic, weak, spineless man, unlike the members of the grand jury in Washington DC that stood up to Jeanine Pirro, her prosecutors, Pam Bondi, and the president of the United States. Reading from the article, this was written by Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush, and Michael Schmidt.
Federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video last fall that enraged President Trump by reminding active duty members of the military and intelligence communities that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders. It was remarkable that the US Attorney's Office in Washington, led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Donald Trump's,
And she used to get drunk and go on Fox News every Sunday. mean, Jesus. Authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the nation's military and spy agencies. But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in the Federal District Court of Washington to forcefully reject Mr. Trump's bid
to label their expression of dissent as a criminal act, warranting prosecution. The move to charge the lawmakers was by any measure an extraordinary attempt by Trump appointees to politicize the criminal justice system, even for a justice department that has repeatedly shattered norms of independence from the White House and followed Trump's directives to prosecute his adversaries.
Hawk (09:23.896)
But manipulating the bureaucratic levers is not the same thing as controlling the entire justice system. So before Donald Trump's second term, it was extremely rare for any federal prosecutor to walk into a grand jury and fail to get an indictment. And let's talk about the structure of how grand juries work. It's usually 23 or 24 people. They don't all have to be present.
And when they vote on whether or not to indict someone, I think it's just a simple majority of the group. I think they have to hit 12 votes, but it does not have to be unanimous. And while a prosecutor is in a grand jury room presenting evidence to a grand jury, the prosecutor is the only other person in the room. These don't take place in a courtroom.
The defendant is not present, their counsel is not present, a judge is not present. It is the prosecutor presenting evidence to the grand jury. And that's why famously that saying has come about that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich because the prosecutor has total control over the environment.
And but beginning with Donald Trump's second term, it has become increasingly common for federal prosecutors across the country to fail to get indictments. They have failed to get indictments against certain protesters in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland, Washington, DC. Famously in Washington, DC, we saw last year, the guy in shorts and a
polo shirt, throw a wrapped up subway sandwich at a law enforcement official, hitting him in the chest. Jeanine Pirro tried to get that guy indicted on felonies. The grand jury said no. And when Jeanine Pirro indicted him on misdemeanors and took guys and took him to trial, the jury acquitted him. That is an example of jury nullification.
Hawk (11:37.816)
because it happened on video. It happened on video. And the jury in that criminal trial was like, we're not gonna convict this guy of a crime. This is bullshit. And so they acquitted him. This situation with the grand jury earlier this week is somewhat different because prosecutors in that kind of a grand jury environment, they have to present facts.
They have to present facts that meet a probable cause burden of proof that there's probable cause that a crime may have been committed. That probable cause burden of proof in the grand jury process is much different than the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof that would come into play during an actual criminal trial.
but it's a super low burden of proof when you're at the grand jury level and these prosecutors couldn't even meet that. you know, I don't use the words hero or heroic or heroism very often, but we're seeing grand juries and criminal juries across the country and especially in Washington DC.
Bodies are comprised of everyday citizens that are picked at random. And these people are acting heroically in essentially telling Donald Trump and Jeanine Pirro to take this stuff and shove it up their ass. know, federal prosecutors asked this grand jury to indict six sitting members of Congress who were Democrats. And people who serve on grand juries aren't stupid. They watch the news.
here and there, at least they understand the environment in this country. And it just simply is not possible for prosecutors to present to a grand jury that stating on video, members of the military are obligated to disobey illegal orders. It's impossible for prosecutors to portray that as a crime.
Hawk (13:57.26)
by taking those facts and applying it to the law, the laws of seditious conspiracy, which include intent to basically overthrow the government.
mean, Donald Trump and Jeanine Pirro, and so many other Pam Bondi, Cash Patel, so many other people in his administration have just approached federal law enforcement like this, with the expectation, with the expectation that they can force the criminal justice system to do what they want it to do. And grand juries and trial juries
are demonstrating to them that that is not the case. And that is utterly heroic to stand up against this administration and in the face of this administration's authoritarian bullshit. these members of Congress put out this video last fall, it almost immediately drew the ire of Mr. Trump, who
demanded that, you know, untrue social as a president does in directing his attorney general to do things. He demanded that the lawmakers be punished and even suggested that they should be executed. He posted the following, seditious behavior punishable by death. Mr. Trump wrote, he then shared another person's true social posts that said hang them, George Washington would.
Days later, the six lawmakers disclosed that the FBI had contacted the House and Senate sergeants at arms, requesting interviews with them, indicating that a criminal investigation was underway. Four of the House members put out a statement saying President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress. No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.
Hawk (16:06.99)
Thereafter, Pete Hegseth initiated a legal process against Mark Kelly, Pete Hegseth is the Secretary of Defense, because Mark Kelly, I don't know if he's still in the National Guard or if he's fully retired. But he's seeking to reduce his rank and reduce his retirement pay. And has also suggested that he might court martial Mark Kelly.
In a social media post in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the video that the six lawmakers put out was, despicable, reckless and false, close quote. They restated the law. That's what they did. And he asserted that the lawmakers whom he disparaged as the seditious six were encouraging troops to, quote, ignore the orders of their commanders, close quote. That's not what they did.
quote, their foolish screeds sows doubt and confusion, which only puts our warriors in danger. Mr. Hegseth wrote, Pete Hegseth is an incompetent boob of the highest order. He's an alleged rapist. He's an alleged alcoholic. He's cheated on every woman he's ever married. But he's a good Christian man, apparently, according to him. He's a good white Christian nationalist man who hates
minorities and women as his tenure at the Department of Defense has amply demonstrated. But kudos to these grand jurors. They did absolutely heroic work earlier this week in standing up to this administration, in standing up for the rule of law, in telling Donald Trump and Jeanine Pirro to go fuck themselves. So I'm Hawk, thanks again for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please push like.
Leave a comment and please subscribe to my page. I would appreciate it very much. It is Thursday. The weekend is here. Please be careful this week. Do not talk to the police. Do not answer their questions. Do not consent to searches of your person or your property. If they detain you, immediately tell them that you are exercising your right to counsel. You want to see an attorney and if it's ICE or Border Patrol,
Hawk (18:24.354)
Tell them you are also gonna exercise your right to remain silent after you tell them also to go fuck themselves. Have a great weekend, everybody. Thank you for watching. Please be safe and I'll see you guys soon. Have a good weekend.