トランプ氏指名の検事正代行、司法省を内部調査　議事堂襲撃事件巡り

Wall Street Journal

27-01-2025

【ワシントン】2021年1月6日に発生した米議会議事堂襲撃事件に絡み、数百人の被告を妨害罪の重罪で訴追した司法省の判断について、ドナルド・トランプ大統領が指名した連邦地検の検事正代行が内部調査を開始した。事情に詳しい複数の関係者が明らかにした。
首都ワシントン（コロンビア特別区）連邦地検のエド・マーティン検事正代行は27日、電子メールで検察官らに対し、議事堂襲撃事件に関連するファイル、文書、メモ、電子メールなどの情報提出を求めた。関係者によると、最も暴力的だった一部暴徒に対する起訴の情報も提出対象に含まれている。
WASHINGTON—A top Trump-appointed prosecutor has opened an internal review of the Justice Department's decision to charge hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants with felony obstruction offenses in connection with the Capitol attack, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., asked prosecutors in an email Monday to turn over 'all files, documents, notes, emails and other information' related to the cases, which included charges against some of the most violent rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Supreme Court last year ruled the department overstepped in relying upon an Enron-era obstruction statute, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, to charge defendants with obstructing the joint session of Congress that convened on Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden's election victory over President Trump.
Martin referred to the use of the obstruction charge as a 'great failure,' writing, 'we need to get to the bottom of it.'
'This 1512 Project is important work,' he added, referring to the number of the statute in the U.S. criminal code. The contents of his email were viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for Martin declined to comment.
Department officials, both career employees and Biden appointees, have insisted their Jan. 6 prosecutions weren't politically motivated. Defendants accused of the obstruction offense also faced other charges, but the allegation was crucial in elevating the seriousness of cases and the amount of potential prison time.
Martin's loosely defined inquiry jarred prosecutors in the office, as well as others who recently left, and some took steps to arrange legal counsel to prepare for what comes next, the people familiar with the matter said. Department lawyers who worked on the cases viewed the inquiry as an opening salvo in the Trump administration's stated aim of investigating the Jan. 6 investigators, the people said.
Trump pardoned virtually all of the Jan. 6 defendants last week.
Martin previously served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, a group that supported Jan. 6 defendants, and he helped organize the 'Stop the Steal' movement to keep Trump in the White House after he lost in 2020.
Martin last week publicly railed against an order prohibiting Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the far-right group from visiting Washington without court permission, fueling a clash with the judge who issued it. The judge lifted his restrictions on Monday for Rhodes and other Oath Keepers members who received commutations from Trump.
The Justice Department brought the obstruction charge in some of the highest-profile prosecutions. In trials and other court proceedings, prosecutors argued that Jan. 6 defendants violated the obstruction law by disrupting an 'official proceeding'—the joint session of Congress that convened to certify the election results.
The Supreme Court's decision read the law more narrowly to apply only when a defendant's actions impaired the integrity of physical evidence. The decision prompted the Justice Department to dismiss the obstruction charge in scores of cases and resulted in a number of defendants receiving new sentences.
Write to C. Ryan Barber at [e-mail] and Sadie Gurman at [e-mail]