The most intense political maneuver from President Trump’s Justice Department just got shot down, thanks to a D.C. grand jury. This grand jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers whom the president had accused of some truly extreme crimes, as reported by MS Now.
This rejection of charges against Senator Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Senator Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and several others is remarkable in its own right. The lawmakers had released a video urging soldiers not to follow illegal orders, a move that prompted President Trump to take to social media and accuse them of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” That’s a truly wild accusation, and the grand jurors in D.C. effectively responded by saying, “Nope, not even close.”
This latest failure by the Justice Department to secure an indictment is actually just the newest data point in a stunning pattern that has been emerging over the past year. Grand jurors across the country have been quietly rejecting some of the administration’s most highly politicized charges, preventing them from ever making it to a full trial.
This phenomenon is arguably the most significant legal story of President Trump’s second term
There’s an old saying that prosecutors can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich because the bar for securing charges is incredibly low. Grand jury presentations are generally one-sided affairs that heavily favor the government. They’re usually just the start of a case, not the end, so securing an indictment is typically unremarkable. That grand juries are now standing up and saying “no” to the administration’s agenda is stunning to people who have experience in the system.
This trend isn’t just limited to Washington, D.C., either. The failure to indict the Democratic senators follows a similar setback in Virginia, where grand jurors refused to revive charges against another prominent Democrat, New York Attorney General Letitia James. The administration has been trying hard to push these cases, but the grand juries simply aren’t buying the evidence.
You might be wondering about Don Lemon, though. Grand jurors in Minnesota recently did approve charges against the former television anchor and others over their actions at a church. While that outcome certainly stands out, it appears to be the rare exception that proves this incredible rule. Even the realistic possibility that his grand jurors might check the administration only served to highlight how common the phenomenon of grand jury rejections has become in other cases across the country.
The sheer significance of this pattern is difficult to overstate. It shows that even when the government sets its sights on an individual, securing an indictment doesn’t guarantee a case’s success. Trial juries still stand in the way of any successful prosecution, demanding that the government prove its case to everyday citizens beyond a reasonable doubt. It seems that citizens, serving both on grand juries and trial juries, are providing a powerful check on the current administration’s highly politicized legal efforts.
Published: Feb 12, 2026 02:00 pm