Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered a blistering speech on the Senate floor Thursday, warning that the Trump administration’s attempted prosecutions of Democratic lawmakers represent a constitutional crisis and a direct assault on free speech.
Schumer’s remarks came two days after reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) tried and failed to push criminal charges against six Democratic members of Congress—Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), along with Representatives Jason Crow (D-CO), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Maggie Goodlander (D-NH)—over a video they released months earlier. In that video, the lawmakers urged U.S. service members to refuse illegal orders, a message they framed as a defense of the Constitution and military ethics.
The Trump administration responded by opening a criminal investigation into the six Democrats, seeking criminal indictments that federal prosecutors ultimately failed to secure. According to Schumer, the charges were “meritless” and were rejected by a grand jury that “saw through these attacks on free speech.”
He stated that the mere attempt to prosecute sitting lawmakers over political speech should alarm both parties. “The president of the United States tried to throw two U.S. senators in jail simply because he didn’t like what they said,” he said. “That’s what happens in a dictatorship.”
Schumer: ‘It Is A Constitutional Crisis Of The Highest Order’
Schumer described the situation as “a constitutional crisis of the highest order,” warning that the indictments were not just about one video or six members of Congress, but about what he called a broader effort by the president to undermine democratic institutions. Schumer called out the administration for arresting journalists and protesters, conducting raids in major cities, and interfering with election offices—all, he said, without evidence of wrongdoing.
“This is an attack on America. This is an attack on democracy. This is an attack on the legislative branch. This is an attack on free speech,” Schumer stated, urging his Republican colleagues to join Democrats in condemning the attempted prosecutions. He stated that, if the roles were reversed, Republican senators would expect the same defense.
Schumer closed by warning that the country is already weary of the chaos, corruption, and lawlessness, and that failing to confront the administration’s actions would only allow the situation to worsen. “If Republicans and Democrats don’t take a stand,” he warned, “the chaotic lawlessness we’ve seen so far is not going to end—it’s going to get worse and swallow all of us up.”
