Mike Lee

Utah Sen. Mike Lee engaged in a heated exchange with Sen. Elissa Slotkin over the weekend when the Michigan Democrat encouraged the prosecution of Trump aides to deter Republicans from working in the White House.

In an interview with the Deseret News, Lee said Slotkin’s statement went beyond the usual finger-pointing by partisan players on both sides of the aisle who allege the misuse of government power by political opponents.

“As I understood her statement, she’s not saying ‘prosecute crime,’” Lee said. “She’s saying weaponize the levers of government to deter people from even serving in the Trump administration. I think that is stunning.”

It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country. https://t.co/VxyH6G2wWn

Speaking at a University of Chicago event, Slotkin said a way to hold President Donald Trump accountable for alleged corruption is to target his top advisers, since impeachment proceedings are unlikely to succeed.

By focusing legal pressure on those who “enable” Trump in the federal government, Democrats can signal to the public, including prospective junior GOP staffers, that the Trump administration is crossing the line, according to Slotkin.

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’ ... to be like ... ‘That might be buying myself a ton of problems I don’t want and so let me avoid participating in that,’” she said.

The talking point, which went viral in a clip posted by the university’s conservative student paper, was widely criticized by conservative commentators online as an example of the weaponization of judicial branch authority.

In a series of posts, Lee lambasted the comment as “a fascist move” and an example of Democrats’ “fascistic tactics.” It is “absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics,” he said.

Slotkin did not take kindly to Lee’s characterization of her remarks. She retorted, in a post of her own, that Lee was “lying” about what she had said. Her point, she said, was trying to discourage illegal activity at Trump’s behest.

“If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the President or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the President, you should be held accountable,” she said.

Spare me the pearl-clutching — especially from Republican Members of Congress and online MAGA grifters who have cheered President Trump's weaponization of the government against those he doesn’t like, as recently as last week. This is a subject I know something about: Less than a… https://t.co/A54iBd5Sy0

While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the president enjoys broad legal immunity when he is acting in his official capacity, Slotkin noted that the justices did not grant similar protections to those working for him.

“Pearl-clutching” and “manufactured outrage” from GOP lawmakers like Lee is hypocritical, Slotkin said in her post.

Slotkin believes she was the victim of government weaponization when Trump directed the Justice Department to investigate and indict her for urging military service members to disobey illegal orders.

As Slotkin appeared on national media Monday to accuse others of misrepresenting her stance, Lee told the Deseret News he still thought her comments went beyond anything his party had done to hold Democrats accountable.

“I’m a little surprised that she appears to be doubling down on it because this is not just part of the ongoing back-and-forth debate,” Lee said. “This is a pretty stunning, stunningly aggressive move.”