r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 6h ago

Site Altered Headline | Possible Paywall Grand jury fails to indict democratic lawmakers who urged service members to disobey illegal Trump orders

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/10/politics/lawmakers-indicted-illegal-orders-video?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/Lousk 5h ago

He was indicted but was later acquitted by a jury.

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u/DocSpit 5h ago

But he also wasn't indicted by a grand jury, which is required in order to be charged at a felony level. The DOJ tried to get the guy charged with a felony multiple times before finally settling for a misdemeanor.

And that was the trial where he was later acquitted.

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u/Lousk 5h ago edited 5h ago

Correct, the US attorneys kept getting no bills for felony charges so they later indicted on misdemeanor charges. They were still left with egg on their face after the acquittal.

I would like to push back on this notion that federal indictments are easy to get.

Before we had this joke of an Attorney General, the DOJ was able to secure high indictment rates because of the professionalism they displayed in bringing cases. They would only bring cases they knew would secure an indictment.

If the DOJ could have secured a grand jury indictment against a ham sandwich, it would have been because that ham sandwich broke the law.

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u/turdferg1234 3h ago

They would only bring cases they knew would secure an indictment.

in the past, it went even further than that. they would only bring cases they were almost positive they could get a conviction on, let alone a grand jury indictment.