Sure but Senators actually have the power to make law, unlike the executive. Also let’s be honest, if any government official “requests” anything it is always under the threat of retribution. See also the Jimmy Kimmel situation.
I’m reasonably confident that if a sitting US senator called you up personally and “requested” that you stop posting on HN or stop contributing to some open source encryption tool that you would find that event threatening, no matter who was currently president.
