Sen. Elissa Slotkin faces ethics complaint over deterrence message

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) is facing an ethics complaint filed to the United States Senate over comments she made earlier this month that many characterized as a “threat” to conservatives who are thinking about working for the Trump administration.

During an Oct. 13 University of Chicago event, Slotkin drew criticism after a clip went viral showing her saying she wants to pursue “signature cases” against people who “enabled” President Donald Trump and push a “deterrence message” for young people.

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like, that sounds fun, I might get an opportunity.’ I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that,'” she said. “I want that deterrence message sent,” Slotkin said.

Slotkin is now facing an ethics complaint filed Thursday by Michael Bicksel, a University of Chicago student who first reported her remarks. The complaint was submitted to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and argues that Slotkin proposed using congressional investigations and potential prosecutions to frighten young people away from serving in a Republican administration.

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Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., votes during a session in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

“Recently at an event at my college, the University of Chicago, Senator Slotkin laid out a legislative-oversight agenda that involved using the legal process to terrorize members of the Trump administration in order to ‘deter’ young people from going to work for it,” Bicksel wrote.

The complaint asks the committee to determine whether Slotkin’s comments amounted to “improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate,” a standard described in the Senate Ethics Manual as applying to conduct that may be unethical even if it does not violate a specific law or Senate rule.

“As a college student and a conservative, this was a shocking thing to hear,” Bicksel’s complaint reads. “A prominent U.S. Senator came to my college and laid out a goal that I and my peers should be afraid to serve our country in the executive branch. This is well below the standard of conduct expected of a U.S. Senator and deserves investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and appropriate subsequent disciplinary action.”

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Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) rehearses the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025, in Wyandotte, Michigan. (Paul Sancya – Pool/Getty Images)

Bicksel argued that Slotkin’s comments were directed at students considering government service, rather than exclusively at people who commit crimes or engage in unethical conduct.

“The substance of the ‘deterrence message’ is clear as day,” Bicksel wrote. “Her target was ‘young people coming out of school’ (like me and my classmates) who are debating whether they should ‘go work for the Trump administration.’”

“We are obviously not debating — as she subsequently tried to clarify — whether to go commit crimes or behave unethically,” he continued. “Those who commit crimes should be punished for doing so. No one disagrees with that. All we are debating is public service, pure and simple, and Senator Slotkin says we should think twice about doing so because it might provoke the full power of the United States Senate.”

Slotkin, when pressed on the response to her comment on CNN, referred to the controversy as “manufactured outrage.”

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Workers begin constructing a large metal fence alongside construction supplies on the east side of the U.S. Capitol Building on Aug. 25, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

“I think the thing that I’ve heard from my own Republican colleagues and peers, including interns and folks who work around the Hill who come to our events, they’ll tell you, ‘I was worried,’” Slotkin added. “My parents were worried, you know. It’s really messy. I’m not sure what to get involved in.’ Politics, in general, has become messy.”

The Justice Department is currently facing calls to investigate Slotkin over her remarks, Washington Examiner reported on Wednesday.

Slotkin’s communication director pointed Fox News Digital to a statement made by the senator on Tuesday when reached for comment.

“Now, if you take a breath, this is all pretty crazy. A president from the Oval Office is weaponizing our justice system against an American who clearly gets under his skin. And if he can do it to me, he can do it to anyone,” Slotkin said. “His supporters use a coordinated play to threaten, intimidate, and silence anyone who speaks up. It’s a play to distract us from his failed economy, high gas prices, and the disastrous war he started with Iran. But if I’ve learned one thing from this past year, it’s that you have to push back.”