President Donald Trump called for Rep. Jason Crow’s (D-Colo.) execution over a video imploring service members to refuse illegal orders. Crow says he’d do it again in a heartbeat.
No stranger to the spotlight — he was a manager for Trump’s first impeachment — Crow said he’s received “hundreds” of death threats in response to the president’s remarks, while his district office in Aurora, Colo. got a bomb threat. But Crow says he’d “absolutely make the same decision” to do the video alongside five other Democratic lawmakers again.
“I don’t back away from the fight. I go to where the fight is,” Crow told us. “[This administration is] violating the law, they’re ignoring the law, they’re ignoring Congress, and I simply will not put up with it.”
A disproportionate amount of attention in the aftermath of the video has gone to the two Democratic senators involved — Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.). The Pentagon has formally launched a “command investigation” into the Arizona Democrat, a retired Navy captain and former astronaut.
But the episode has also raised the national visibility of the four House Democrats featured: Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (N.H.) and Crow.
It’s unclear where the Trump administration’s vow for FBI interviews of the lawmakers stands. None of the offices told us they’d been interviewed since the mid-November pledge sparked a political furor.
Attorneys for Kelly on Dec. 18 demanded details from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the DOD “escalated” its investigation, an intensification that prompted bipartisan unease in Congress.
Crow, who first came to Congress in the 2018 blue wave after dispatching a Republican incumbent, acknowledged concern that government intimidation and threats might scare off some interested in public service.
“That’s certainly what Donald Trump intends,” Crow said, adding that fact “makes it so much more important” that those, like him, “stand firm.”
“Fear is contagious, but so is courage, and we have to show our willingness to do our duty,” Crow said. “And that example, we hope, will inspire others to step up and do the same.”
Crow is trying to turn those words into action, recruiting national security veterans to run for Congress. Crow is the candidate recruitment co-chair for the DCCC.
Crow said he’s been proud to help Houlahan “mentor and support” the Hellcats, a group of female, first-time candidates with national security cred — and recently made trips to New Hampshire in support of Maura Sullivan and Arizona to campaign with JoAnna Mendoza.
The broader national visibility that comes from Trump’s focus is “just something that happens — that’s not the intent, that’s not the purpose,” Crow said, but he won’t change his approach.
Asked if he’d want to be tapped for the Senate if Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) wins the gubernatorial election, Crow didn’t say no: “I’m going to serve in the best way that I can — whatever that looks like.”
“Right now it is a no-fail mission for us to retake the House in the midterms,” Crow said. “I’m going to run around the country to find those folks, to support them, to mentor them, and to win. And we’ll see where that leads after that.”
