U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, the Aurora Democrat who represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, signaled this week that he’s considering pursuing legal action against members of the Trump administration after a federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict Crow and five other Democratic lawmakers on criminal charges over an online video they released last fall urging military service members to refuse to carry out “illegal orders.”

Through his attorney, Crow demanded in a Feb. 11 letter that U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, whose office unsuccessfully sought to bring felony counts against the six Democrats, preserve all evidence related to the case and warned against further pursuing charges.

“If these f—ers think that they’re going to intimidate us and threaten and bully me into silence, and they’re going to go after political opponents and get us to back down, they have another thing coming,” Crow told CNN on the night of Feb. 10, soon after news of the failed indictments broke.

Although grand jury proceedings are secret, CBS News and other outlets reported that not a single grand juror voted to indict the lawmakers after prosecutors attempted to charge them under a statute that makes it a felony if a person “advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military.”

In November, Crow, an Army Ranger combat veteran serving his fourth term in Congress, joined fellow Democrats with military and national security backgrounds to record a video telling members of the military and intelligence community that they have an obligation under military law and the Constitution to refuse unlawful orders.

“Now, more than ever, the American people need you,” the lawmakers say in the 90-second video, which appeared across social media platforms. “Don’t give up the ship.”

The others who appeared in the video were U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.

The lawmakers said at the time that they were simply repeating what the law states — the Uniform Code of Military Justice says members of the military must only obey lawful orders and have to reject those that are illegal — and reminding service members of their duty, though they didn’t cite specific orders they considered illegal.

President Donald Trump almost immediately took to his Truth Social site to say the lawmakers should be arrested and charged for what he characterized as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Although he later clarified that he wasn’t “threatening death,” Trump also wrote, “IT WAS SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, AND SEDITION IS A MAJOR CRIME.”

Some Republicans and others also condemned the video, with some arguing that its message threatened to undermine morale and could confuse troops.

“This is reckless,” U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, a Colorado Springs Republican, posted on X. “To our service members: follow the lawful order of your commanding officer. If the role was reversed, I’m sure Jason Crow wouldn’t support this defiance under Joe Biden.”

Crow and others who appeared in the video said last month that they’d been contacted by the FBI and Department of Justice for interviews but had refused to participate.

Days before the grand jury’s actions became known, Crow told Colorado Politics in an interview that he wasn’t going to be daunted by the administration’s attempts to prosecute.

“So Donald Trump’s political hack of a U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia is using all of her other political hack, third-rate lawyers to reach out and try to harass and intimidate the group of us who filmed the ‘Don’t Give Up the Ship’ video,” Crow said.

“What they’re trying to do is make examples out of us so that the rest of America doesn’t feel like they can stand up and speak up and dissent,” he added. “They have chosen the wrong people. We are not going to be bullied or cowed by this administration, and we will hold our ground firmly.”

It’s the same tone taken by Abbe Lowell, Crow’s attorney, who alleged in the letter to Pirro that attempting to prosecute the lawmakers was “a breathtaking and unprecedented level of prosecutorial overreach and misuse of power.”

Declaring that any attempt to continue with the prosecution “would be actionable,” Lowell wrote that Crow could argue in court that the move violated his First Amendment rights, a constitutional provision that protects congressional speech and debate and the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, and bring a claim of malicious prosecution.

“Donald Trump’s abuse of America’s justice system is chilling and indefensible,” Lowell added. “What’s perhaps most surprising is not that your effort to secure a grand jury indictment failed, but that you even tried.”

The morning after the failed indictment was reported, however, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters that he agreed with the Justice Department.

“Any time you’re obstructing law enforcement and getting into the way of these sensitive operations, it’s a very serious thing, and it probably is a crime,” Johnson said. “And, yes, they probably should be indicted.”

Another Republican, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who has frequently broken with Trump since announcing he isn’t running for reelection, took the opposite view.

“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Tillis posted on X. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were.”

Crow fired back at Johnson on X, maintaining that the Republican has “completely turned his back on the Constitution.”

“It’s sad and pathetic how the speaker simply echoes baseless sentiments of Trump and his goons,” Crow posted.

At a press conference on Feb. 11 with the three other House members who appeared in the video, Crow described the letter his lawyer sent to Pirro as the first salvo in a potential legal response.

“We are taking names. We are creating lists,” Crow said. “My lawyers just sent a letter today to the Department of Justice, putting them on notice that there will be costs. We will not just sit back and let them lob false allegations after false allegations at us. There will be costs, and those costs start today.”

Asked by a reporter about his next steps, Crow said he wouldn’t “get into legal strategy,” but added, “Actions will have consequences.”

“So that’s actually a ball that’s in the Trump administration’s court,” Crow said. “We’ve been very clear about our position and that it needs to stop. If it doesn’t stop, then we’ll take all necessary actions.”