Right Wing Watch has been reporting consistently on the partisanship, ideological extremism, and abuses of power by interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin, who President Donald Trump has nominated to hold the position officially. So have national news outlets. But it’s hard to keep up with all the reasons Martin should not be allowed to keep the job, because he keeps breaking new ground with his shady actions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hasn’t traditionally held confirmation hearings for district attorneys. But Democrats have argued that the avalanche of legally and ethically dubious behavior by Martin calls for questioning under oath at a public confirmation hearing. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has yet to agree to hold hearings on Martin’s nomination, and the issue may come to a head at a scheduled committee meeting on Thursday.
Here are a few of the most recent Martin actions and revelations that strengthen the already compelling case against his confirmation:
- Martin sent a letter to the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation threatening its tax-exempt status and seeking detailed information about its editorial process. Given the Trump administration’s attempts to whitewash and restrict the teaching of U.S. history, it is noteworthy that Martin accuses Wikipedia of allowing “the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information.”
- In another of his moves threatening freedom of the press, Martin wrote a letter this month to CHEST, a scientific and medical journal, asking about its editorial policies. First Amendment Coalition director David Snyder called the move "baffling," saying, “The government has no authority under the First Amendment to regulate the editorial decisions of publications, and the letter suggests that’s what Martin intends to do.”
- The Washington Post reported in April that Martin had not disclosed more than 150 appearances on Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik on his Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire. Martin spouted Russian talking points, insisting nine days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that there was “no evidence” of a Russian military buildup.
- ProPublica reported this week that "current and former federal prosecutors in D.C. say Martin’s actions so far have undercut morale in the office" and that "reforms" he has proposed "could make it harder, not easier, for prosecutors to do their jobs."
- ProPublica reported recently on the ways Martin mobilized online attacks against a judge overseeing a bitter struggle Martin was involved in back in 2016 for control of Phyllis Schlafly’s political organization and legacy, which ProPublica described as part of a pattern of misconduct that led to multiple settlements and legal rulings against him or his organization.
Martin’s disqualifying record cannot be washed away by his recent reported apology for lavishing praise on a Nazi-sympathizing Jan. 6 insurrectionist at an event at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey last fall. Martin told The Forward this month that at the time he “didn’t know” who Hale-Cusanelli was. But that seems quite questionable given, as the Forward noted, that Martin had acknowledged months earlier that Hale-Cusanelli had worn a Hitler moustache to his job as a Naval contractor, which Martin downplayed as “not your best moment.” In the same July 2, 2024, podcast, Martin said:
Tim Hale is an extraordinary guy. I’ve gotten to know him really well. I’d say we’re friends. Over the last few years, and especially in the last months since he’s been out of jail, has been out of prison, gotten to see him work, see his writings, all these kinds of things—an extraordinary guy.
As Mother Jones reported, Martin and Hale-Cusanelli appeared together much more recently—in March—at a fundraiser for Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, the group Martin ran for years. At that event, Martin compared the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
