Far-left Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan has vowed to investigate and prosecute members of President Donald Trump’s administration in an effort to deter young conservatives from entering politics or working for the president. The statement came during an interview with the Chicago Thinker, a campus newspaper at the University of Chicago. Critics have labeled Slotkin a “Bolshevik.”
A former CIA operative and one of several CIA Democrats now serving in Congress, Slotkin has described her plan as a means to send a clear message to potential future political appointees: the risks of aligning with Trump’s administration. In an interview with the Chicago Thinker, she stated: “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun, I might get an opportunity.’ I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that.’”
Slotkin has previously been part of what she calls the “Seditious Six,” a group that encouraged military officers to disobey orders she deemed illegal from Trump’s leadership. However, she admitted to not knowing of any such illegal orders. In a September 30 address to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Slotkin compared her proposed show trials to the historical use of Poland’s “Iron Broom,” stating that the goal is to target “signature cases” involving individuals who have committed significant abuses of taxpayer funds. She has also indicated potential sentences as high as 20 years for figures such as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Slotkin’s proposal has drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers and legal experts. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley noted that her approach mirrors the federal government’s post-January 6, 2021 campaign against Trump supporters, which included surveillance of thousands of Republicans and targeted prosecutions. On social media, Slotkin defended her stance, stating: “This is a subject I know something about: Less than a year ago, Trump directed the DOJ and FBI to investigate me, and then tried to criminally indict me for a 90-second video, exercising basic free speech.”
