A person passes by the FBI seal on the wall of the FBI headquarters in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Jana Winter and Joseph Ax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has requested interviews with six Democratic U.S. lawmakers who in a video message told members of the military they can legally refuse to carry out unlawful orders, a U.S. Justice Department official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The move, reported earlier by Fox News, comes a day after the Pentagon threatened to recall Senator Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran and one of the six lawmakers, to active duty potentially to face military charges over what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described on social media as "seditious" acts.

President Donald Trump, who critics have said has sought to harness the power of the government to try to stifle dissent, also has accused the six Democrats of sedition and said in a social media post that the crime is punishable by death.

The Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the FBI interviews with the lawmakers were to determine "if there's any wrongdoing, and then go from there." The FBI is headed by Trump appointee Kash Patel.

The lawmakers have described the Trump administration's threats toward them as an intimidation tactic that would fail to silence them. They also said their video statements accurately reflected U.S. law. American troops swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution, not the president, and under military rules must follow "any lawful general order or regulation."

The other lawmakers who appeared in the video released last week include Senator Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Iraq war veteran, and Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, all military veterans. Kelly is a retired Navy captain and astronaut.

In the video, the lawmakers did not refer to any specific illegal order.

But the video was made amid concerns from Democrats - echoed privately by some U.S. military commanders - that the Trump administration is violating the law by ordering strikes on vessels purportedly carrying suspected drug traffickers in Latin American waters. The Pentagon has called the strikes justified because drug smugglers are considered terrorists.

Democrats have also voiced concern about the legality of Trump's use of military forces in American cities.

Trump's administration has shattered democratic norms by using law enforcement to pursue his perceived enemies. The Justice Department in recent months brought criminal charges against three prominent critics of the president, though a judge on Monday dismissed two of those cases.

There is no charge of sedition under U.S. law for civilians, though the charge of "seditious conspiracy" carries a maximum penalty of 20 years. Several leaders of the January 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol were convicted of that crime before Trump pardoned them.

For troops, the Uniform Code of Military Justice includes a section on sedition, with possible penalties including death.

In a series of social media posts on Tuesday, Deluzio accused Trump of attempting to silence the Democrats through intimidation.

"Donald Trump threatened my life because he didn't like the constitutional truths I spoke," Deluzio, a former Navy officer, wrote, adding that he had received death threats as a result.

On Monday, Kelly responded to Hegseth's threats of a court-martial by detailing his record of public service, including 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm and four space shuttle flights at NASA.

"I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution," Kelly said on Monday.

(Reporting by Jana Winter; Additional reporting by David Morgan and Jasper Ward; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, Lisa Shumaker and Will Dunham)