Firing Line: Elissa Slotkin

In this episode of Firing Line, Elissa Slotkin, a congresswoman from Michigan and former CIA analyst in Afghanistan, talked about the insurrection in the capital.

As a Democrat from Michigan, she originally feared if she would get a seat back in the senate. The reason being was that she voted to impeach Trump twice, and her district had a lot of Trump voters. However, her decision to impeach him came about because of his interactions with a foreign country regarding America’s elections.

“There are some foundational issues to democracy that are worth losing your seat over,” she said. 

Some of those issues revolved around the sanctity of Congress as well as the tenants to democracy. But, a major one would be the rule of law as America was nothing without it. She believed that the rules of law cannot be bent or broken for one party or another. 

As a former CIA analyst, she said that when the insurgence happened, her training kicked in. She knew immediately to get out of the target area and find safety, where she locked herself in her room. She then called the Pentagon to inform them of the situation happening at the Capital. 

The insurgence did not surprise her, as in Michigan, there had been armed protestors, rise of militias, and the attempted kidnapping of the governor. She ended up calling her staff and told them not to come into work to avoid them crossing paths with possibly violent protestors.

“It ended up obviously being a very dangerous day,” she said.