U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a far-left Democrat from Michigan, threatened young people across America with investigations and possible prosecutions if they chose to work for the administration of President Donald Trump.
She tried walking it back but already was facing an ethics complaint from a watchdog, the Center to Advance Security in America.
Now a Chicago student who first reported on the threats has followed up with his own complaint to the Senate.
A Fox News report reveals Michael Bicksel, attending the University of Chicago, first had reported her threats, and his complaint now is pending before the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
He charges she wants to use congressional investigations and possible prosecutions to frighten young people away from serving in a Republican administration.
Her words were, “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.’ I want that deterrence message sent.”
WorldNetDaily had reported earlier on the complaint from the Center, which asked Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., to investigate.
ON UCHICAGO CAMPUS: U.S. Senator from Michigan Elissa Slotkin hopes planned political prosecutions of republican leaders will scare young conservatives from getting involved in politics. @ElissaSlotkin https://t.co/p7NBJpDcQW
— The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) October 17, 2026
Sen. Slotkin urges Dems to use prosecution to make young people afraid to serve in Trump admin https://t.co/tWo4ZWktcr https://t.co/EjrKsKT9Jk
— New York Post (@nypost) October 18, 2026
She wasn’t long in trying to walk it back, claiming later that it was all just an encouragement for people not to choose to do things they know are illegal:
PANTS ON FIRE: Democrat Elissa Slotkin says @BasedMikeLee is engaged in “his specialty” of “manufactured outrage,” arguing she has not and will never call for mass prosecutions of Trump or MAGA staffers in the federal government, but they would be WISE to disobey what the President asks them to do…. “Well, look, that’s manufactured outrage. That’s his specialty. I think the — the thing that I’ve heard from my own Republican colleagues and peers, including like interns and folks who work around the Hill who come to our events, they’ll tell you, like I, you know, I was worried. My parents were worried. You know, it’s really messy. I’m not sure what to get involved in. Politics in general has become messy. But, you know, when you’re being forced by this administration, for instance, to sign a contract that is given over to a company that Trump Jr. is on the board of, and you know that that’s a problem. Like, my point is, do not get yourself involved in illegal activity. It’s the same thing I was talking about a year ago. Whether you’re the uniformed military or a civilian in government, if you’re being asked to do something by the President or his team that’s illegal, you have a responsibility to reject that. That is my point, and that was the point I was trying to make.”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 19, 2026
CASA chief James Fitzpatrck said, “Senator Slotkin’s recent statement that young professionals should be deterred from joining the Trump administration is extremely troubling and a potential violation of Senate Ethics rules. U.S. Senators must conduct themselves with proper ethics and morality at all times.”
Fox reported Slotkin’s comments were characterized by many as a “threat.”
Bicksel followed up with, “Recently at an event at my college, the University of Chicago, Senator Slotkin laid out a legislative-oversight agenda that involved using the legal process to terrorize members of the Trump administration in order to ‘deter’ young people from going to work for it.”
He seeks a ruling on whether Slotkin’s comments were “improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate.”
“As a college student and a conservative, this was a shocking thing to hear,” Bicksel’s complaint reads. “A prominent U.S. Senator came to my college and laid out a goal that I and my peers should be afraid to serve our country in the executive branch. This is well below the standard of conduct expected of a U.S. Senator and deserves investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and appropriate subsequent disciplinary action.”
Slotkin, of course, was one of a handful of Democrats in Congress who earlier released of video directed to the U.S. military that appeared to undermine the chain of command, where Trump sits at the top as commander-in-chief.
The video exhorted the service members not to follow “illegal orders” from the Trump administration, while failing to identify any so-called “illegal orders.”
Several of the Democrats who used the military for their political agenda refused to cooperate with any investigation.
Trump said the six Democrats were participating in “seditious” behavior for telling service members: “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders,” without identifying any.
I just filed a formal ethics complaint against @SenatorSlotkin https://t.co/9bFV6O1SOk
— Michael Bicksel (@MichaelBicksel) October 22, 2026
