Justice Department official Ed Martin is under investigation by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in Washington, which handles attorney discipline. His Senate nomination to serve as U.S. attorney in D.C. stalled, prompting him to inform his staff in a farewell email. Martin claims the investigation violates his confidentiality and threatens his professional standing.
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Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups accused him of using prosecutorial threats to intimidate opponents of President Donald Trump and his associates. Trump replaced Martin with former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who has been sworn in as interim U.S. attorney.
Trump also appointed Martin as associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney. Martin will lead a task force investigating the perceived weaponization of federal law enforcement against Trump supporters.
Tag Archives: Ed Martin
Talking Points Memo: Trump Stonewalls Federal Judges In New Round Of Brazen Defiance
A Constitutional Clash In Three Acts
In three closely watched anti-immigration cases, the Trump administration continued its slo-mo constitutional defiance of the judicial branch …
Act I: Non-Responsiveness
Act II: Delay Shenanigans
Act III: Misdirection And Mischaracterization
Read the article for the details:
MSNBC: Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern
If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.
But it’s important to remember that many of the White House’s political antagonists are, in fact, facing the kind of investigations that Trump has in mind. The New York Times reported:
The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.
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The public has learned in recent weeks that the administration — led by a president whose second-term “revenge tour” has been unsubtle — is also investigating and/or prosecuting a variety of Democratic officials and candidates, including Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
This dovetails with the president directing the Justice Department to go after Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; which came on the heels of Trump pressing the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official. The president did this not because there’s evidence of Krebs or Taylor having done anything wrong, but because they defied him several years ago. They went on his enemies list, and now he’s exacting revenge.
Around the same time, Trump also directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s most important fundraising platform.
And did I mention the investigation into former FBI director James Comey? Because that’s underway, too.
Trump and his team are also going after law firms, universities and news organizations they consider political foes of the White House.
What’s more, given Ed Martin’s new responsibilities at the Justice Department, this overtly and abusive partisan pattern is likely to intensify.
So Trump hates everybody?
Axios recently noted, “In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as ‘the enemies from within.’ As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.” That was two months ago. The problem is vastly worse now, and there’s no reason to believe conditions will improve anytime soon.
New York Times: If We Can’t Prosecute Trump’s Foes, We’ll ‘Shame’ Them, Justice Dept. Official Says
Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.
President Trump has kept up a steady bombardment of suggestions, requests and demands to arrest, investigate or prosecute targets of his choosing — the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, various Democrats, officials who refuted his election lies, Beyoncé, the Boss.
But Mr. Trump’s directives have so far hit a stubborn snag. Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed prosecutable crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.
But a Trump loyalist, given new, vague and possibly vast power, has found a workaround.
In recent days, Ed Martin, the incoming leader of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” group, made a candid if unsurprising admission: He plans to use his authority to expose and discredit those he believes to be guilty, even if he cannot find sufficient evidence to prosecute them — weaponizing an institution he has been hired to de-weaponize, in the view of critics.
In other words, if they can’t prosecute their target, they’ll engage in character assassination.
So much for a professional Department of Justice!
USA Today: In latest Trump overhaul, Justice Department may change who prosecutes public corruption
The review comes after President Donald Trump criticized the alleged ‘weaponization’ of prosecutions of public officials including him.
The Justice Department is considering moving decisions about whether to prosecute public officials such as members of Congress to regional U.S. attorney’s offices rather than at headquarters, part of President Donald Trump‘s overhaul of the department and its public corruption enforcement.
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The review aims to ensure that U.S. attorneys in 94 offices nationwide share equal responsibility with headquarters officials in choosing whether to pursue public corruption cases, according to a department official speaking on background. No final decisions have been made, the department official said.
It would put these prosecutions under the control of political appointees who can quickly be replaced to do the President’s bidding, e.g. the appointment of Trump’s Bimbo #4 Alina Habba as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. Previously such prosecutions were managed by DOJ’s career professional staff.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ‘Rigged System’: GOP Senators Thwart Nominee After Defying Trump
President Donald Trump pulled his nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. The White House was working to secure his nomination despite declining support from some Republican senators.
Instead, Trump plans for Martin to be an associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney. Martin will likely recommend pardons for defendants involved in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. In this photo gallery, we review the defiance from Republican senators.
Martin’s nomination ran into significant hurdles, including his failure to disclose nearly 200 media appearances. He claimed under oath that he could not recall controversial statements, raising concerns among GOP senators.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, “Last Friday, we received responses from Mr. Martin to our questions, and it raised even more questions. Mr. Martin made a number of false statements and contradictory statements that are easily disproven by the material he himself disclosed in his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire. And it wasn’t just to my questions—it was to Chairman Grassley’s questions as well.”
So Trump pulls a nomination for a douchebag crony to be U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., but still plans to give him a job as an associate deputy attorney general despite several red flags regarding his honesty and ethics.
Yup, sounds like what King Donald would do!
New York Post: Trump’s weaponization czar hints at international targets, accepts that GOP killed his DC US Attorney nomination: ‘It worked out great’
Newly minted weaponization czar Ed Martin is gearing up to take on a myriad of bad actors who the Trump administration says weaponized government powers to punish conservatives and MAGA supporters over recent years.
Martin’s list of potential targets is very wide, including propagators of Russiagate, prosecutors in Capitol riot cases, individuals who allegedly helped cover up COVID-19 origins and even international organizations that have censored Americans.
“The truth is important, and we need it,” Martin told The Post. “Then, after the truth is known, we need to hold those accountable that did the wrongdoing, and we need to also help those who are victims. We have both of those obligations.”
Weaponization Czar = Minister of Trump’s Personal Revenge
