Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said the number of threats against her exploded after President Donald Trump posted social media messages targeting Democrats on Thursday.
“We’ve had hundreds and hundreds, if not, you know, closer to 1,000 threats,” Slotkin, one of the six Democrats featured in a video that provoked Trump’s ire, told NBC News’s Ryan Nobles.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said they’d looked into security for the lawmakers who appeared in a video released earlier this week. In the video, Slotkin and five other Democratic veterans and former intelligence officers reminded service members that they could “refuse illegal orders” from the administration.
“The Sergeant of Arms arranged for us to have 24/7 security, and that’s because the threat level just went through the roof,” Slotkin told Nobles.
Trump took to social media to denounce the video on Thursday, sharing a series of posts that accused the Democrats of seditious behavior and suggested different forms of punishment. In one, he said they “should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL”; in another, he described their actions as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump also re-posted an anonymous user’s message that read, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
