On October 13, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan came to my campus at the University of Chicago and called for using the threat of prosecution to scare students like me away from public service.
Young people who want to serve their country should never be targeted for their beliefs or for which administration they choose to work for. That is why I filed a formal ethics complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, and why I’m asking the committee to review it and make its findings public.

Senator Slotkin said she wants to pursue “signature cases” against the people around President Trump. Then she turned to students, saying she wants graduates thinking about an administration job to worry it “might be buying myself a ton of problems.”

Think about who she is talking about. Twenty-two-year-olds with student loans and their first apartment. Young people who want to help and do something good for their country. They have no lawyers, no savings, and no political power. Even an investigation that goes nowhere can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, enough to wreck someone’s finances before their career begins. That is what a “ton of problems” could mean for someone just out of college.

These are the people least able to defend themselves, and a United States senator chose to single them out.

Sign this petition to call on the Senate Ethics Committee to review my complaint and publicly release its findings, so no young American is ever scared out of serving their country.