Ed Martin, a “Stop the Steal” organizer, religious-right activist, promoter of MAGA conspiracy theories, and lawyer for Jan. 6 insurrections, is using his appointed position as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to run interference for Elon Musk’s rampage through federal agencies, as Right Wing Watch reported earlier this month.
Since then, Martin’s words and actions suggest that his loyalties lie with Trump, not the law or Constitution; Trump has returned the favor by nominating Martin to the position permanently, which will require Senate confirmation.
On Monday, Martin described himself and presumably other U.S. Attorneys as “President Trumps’ lawyers” and declared himself “vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first.” It’s not the first time Martin has described federal prosecutors as “the President’s lawyers.”
While it’s true, and troubling, that a bunch of Trump’s personal lawyers have been given powerful positions in this administration, that’s not the job of a U.S. Attorney. While Martin is apparently choosing to look the other way as Trump officials ignore and break federal laws virtually on a daily basis, Martin sees it as his role, somehow, to “stand against” a news organization that refuses to follow government directives on how they report the news. Even MAGA mouthpiece Ben Shapiro called it “rather tyrannical and stupid.”
“U.S. Attorneys are not the President’s lawyers,” Rep. Maxwell Frost admonished. “They are the United States’ lawyers. You didn’t pledge an oath to a President, you pledged it to the Constitution. This statement alone is reason enough for you to resign.”
There’s more. Martin has sent “letters of inquiry” to Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) suggesting that they had made “threats against public officials.” In an interview encouraging Democrats to forcefully oppose the Trump administration, Garcia said he wanted Democrats to “bring actual weapons to this bar fight.” Garcia responded to Martin’s action by declaring that no reasonable person would see his metaphorical language as a threat and vowed, “I will not be silenced.”
The conservative Washington Examiner noted this week that “the president is now moving to install loyal supporters” in Martin’s office who will not only reverse the Jan.6 prosecutions “but also review all of it and punish any Department of Justice employees involved in perceived overzealousness.”
Martin has fired about 30 prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases “while preparing to extend the office’s scrutiny to top Democratic leaders and former Justice Department officials,” the Washington Post reported shortly after Martin took office. Last week, another top prosecutor resigned at Martin’s request when she refused to order a bank to freeze the accounts of a government contractor based on what she believed was insufficient evidence.
Martin’s rhetoric has drawn strong criticism from First Amendment advocates. And his flippant warning to a law firm that reportedly provided legal assistance to special counsel Jack Smith has been described as one of several ethical violations “worthy of a complaint to the bar.”
Martin has also drawn attention for his office’s refusal to sign an arrest warrant for Republican Rep. Cory Mills after a woman who reportedly told a 911 operator and first responders that the congressman had assaulted her later recanted her allegations.
Martin’s litany of bad behavior explains why the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake has called Martin’s upcoming confirmation vote the biggest test yet of Republican senators’ “willingness to set aside personal misgivings and bow to Trump’s more extreme impulses…with potentially massive implications for our body politic and justice system.”
