Democrat Senator Says She Now Has 24/7 Security After Trump Calling Her PSA ‘Punishable by Death’

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin is pushing back after President Donald Trump accused her of treason and appeared to imply that she and five other Democratic lawmakers deserved execution.

On Thursday, Nov. 20, Trump, 79, posted on Truth Social targeting Slotkin, 49, along with Sen. Mark Kelly and Reps. Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander, and Jason Crow. His comments referred to a video the group released urging members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”

Trump called the video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” adding that each of the lawmakers should be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” In a follow-up post, he escalated further, writing that the alleged conduct was “punishable by DEATH!” He later re-shared a supporter’s reply that read, “Hang them George Washington would !!”

That evening, Slotkin told Chris Hayes on MS NOW that she and the other lawmakers involved have been placed under constant protection.

“Capitol Police came to us and said, ‘We’re going to put you on 24/7 security.’ We’ve got law enforcement out in front of my house,” she said.

Slotkin noted that while threats have cropped up at times during her career, this wave hit immediately after Trump’s posts. She said she has received “hundreds if not at this point thousands” of messages, calls, emails, texts, and online threats.

“Leadership climate is set from the top,” she said. “And if the president is saying you should be hanged, then we shouldn’t be surprised when folks on the ground are going to follow suit and say even worse. So I think for all of us, it has fundamentally changed our security situation.”

She added that the attacks have not changed her willingness to speak publicly. “He is trying to use fear as a weapon,” she said.

Trump has denied that his statements were meant as threats of violence. Speaking on The Brian Kilmeade Show Friday, Nov. 21, he said, “I’m not threatening them, but I think they’re in serious trouble.” He argued that such actions would have been treated more harshly in the past, calling them a major offense “in the old days,” though he said today’s world is “softer” and “meeker.” Still, he maintained, “I think what they did is really bad… These are bad people… in my opinion, [they] broke the law. Now what happens to them, I can’t tell you.”

Slotkin, a former CIA and State Department intelligence analyst, suggested Trump’s outburst may be aimed at shifting attention away from other political controversies, including renewed debate over the Epstein files. She said the tactic might work on some but not on people who have served in national security roles.

“He can wield that on some, but it just doesn’t work for people who have served and have done other dangerous things in our lives,” she said.

She described the situation as a grim milestone in U.S. politics. Slotkin emphasized that the video’s message reflected long-standing legal and constitutional obligations, not a call to ignore lawful authority.

“The six of us… swore an oath to the Constitution many times before we got to Congress,” she said. “What we were citing was literally chapter and verse from the UCMJ, the military code of justice. And I think his reaction is characteristic of a political system that no one is proud of right now.”

Asked whether she expects a Justice Department investigation, Slotkin said she believes the agency is increasingly aligned with Trump’s priorities.

“I think we have to expect that the Department of Justice is doing President Trump’s bidding,” she said, adding that she would not be shocked if an inquiry were launched. She stressed that the video never urged defying court orders and argued that the administration itself must comply with them, pointing to a recent ruling declaring the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., illegal and requiring withdrawal by mid-December.