Latest news with #1512Project
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Interim US attorney for DC says he's 'expanded' investigation into Jan. 6 cases
Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a message to staff on Friday that he's "expanded" the scope of his investigation into the office's handling of cases stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol -- and likened them to the government's internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, according to an email obtained by ABC News. Martin, whose nomination is still pending confirmation by the Senate, has dubbed his investigation the "1512 Project," referring to the felony obstruction charge used against hundreds of Capitol attack defendants that was later narrowed by the Supreme Court. "We have contacted lawyers, staff and judges about this -- and sought their feedback," Martin wrote in his email. "One called the bi-partisan rejection of the 1512 charge the 'greatest failure of legal judgement since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps -- and seized their property.' I agree and that's why we continue to look at who ordered the 1512 and why. A lot to do." MORE: 'Nazis got better treatment,' judge says of Trump administration's Alien Enemies Act deportations Fifteen of the 16 judges at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, including several Trump appointees, previously upheld the application of the 1512 charge for Jan. 6 defendants whose conduct, prosecutors argued, crossed the line beyond simple misdemeanor trespassing offenses. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, also joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in dissenting from the court's majority opinion to say that the obstruction of an official proceeding charge was properly applied to describing Congress' certification of the presidential election. Martin further told staff in his email that he has "been asked to look into leaks that took place during the January 6th prosecutions," which he claimed were "used by the media and partisans as misinformation." "It was bad all around. (One participant said she believed the media was in a frenzy for attention like during the OJ Simpson trial)," Martin said. MORE: Trump rails against prosecutions, touts Jan. 6 hostages in visit to Justice Department The email is just the latest in a series of controversial actions by Martin that has thrown one of the most important and high-profile U.S. attorney's offices in the country into turmoil. Martin, a "Stop the Steal" promoter who represented several defendants charged in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, has leveled numerous public threats to investigate Democratic lawmakers and sent menacing letters to critics of President Donald Trump. Among those who have received letters from Martin in which he suggested their actions were under investigation by his office are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va. Earlier this week, ABC News confirmed Martin sent an informal letter to President Joe Biden's younger brother James Biden, inquiring about the sweeping preemptive pardons he and his wife received in the waning hours of the Biden presidency. Interim US attorney for DC says he's 'expanded' investigation into Jan. 6 cases originally appeared on
Boston Globe
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
New top prosecutor for DC advocated for Jan. 6 rioters and echoed Trump's false 2020 election claims
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The appointment of Martin, the former head of the Missouri Republican Party, underscores Trump's commitment to installing loyalists in key positions at the Justice Department, which the Republican president contends was 'weaponized' against him and his supporters by President Joe Biden's administration. Mike Davis, a Trump ally, called Martin in a social media post a 'bold and fearless' leader who will 'clean house' at the office, which Davis described as 'an epicenter of the lawfare and political persecution.' Advertisement Martin told employees in an email that he was alongside Trump in the Oval Office when the president granted clemency last week to two Washington police officers prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office for their roles in the deadly chase of a man on a moped and the subsequent cover-up. And in a social media post last week, Martin appeared to describe federal prosecutors as 'the President's lawyers.' 'Based on the public reporting, it appears that he is in this role purely to execute on the president's political priorities more so than the work of protecting public safety in Washington,' said Alexis Loeb, who was deputy chief of the section that prosecuted the Jan. 6 cases before leaving the government last year. Advertisement It's unclear whether Trump intends to nominate Martin to the permanent post, which would require Senate confirmation. A White House spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a text message about Martin on Monday. Prosecutors were directed last week to refer to Martin in court papers simply as 'U.S. Attorney Ed Martin' after some filed documents describing him as the 'acting' top prosecutor, according to a former federal prosecutor who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of persistent threats of violence. Shortly after Trump's sweeping clemency order, Martin's name showed up last on a flurry of court filings seeking to dismiss the pending Jan. 6 prosecutions, including cases against people charged with assaulting police officers. One week later, Martin announced a 'special project' to review the use of an obstruction felony charge brought against hundreds of Capitol riot defendants. Prosecutors had to drop the obstruction of an official proceeding charge in many cases after a Supreme Court ruling last year limiting the offense, finding it must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents. Calling the use of the charge 'a great failure of our office,' Martin ordered attorneys to hand over to two supervisors all relevant 'files, documents, notes, emails and other information,' according to a copy of the email reviewed by the AP. He ordered the supervisors to provide a preliminary report on the matter to him by Friday. 'We need to get to the bottom of it,' Martin wrote. He's calling it the '1512 Project,' because the offense falls under that section of the law. Trump's clemency action led to the release of more than 200 people in federal custody, including people seen on camera engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police and violently attacking law enforcement with makeshift weapons. Advertisement Vice President JD Vance, who previously said violent rioters should 'obviously' not be pardoned, defended Trump's action in a CBS interview that aired Sunday. Vance alleged, without providing evidence, that the Jan. 6 defendants were 'denied constitutional protections.' Ashley Akers, who prosecuted dozens of Jan. 6 cases before leaving the Justice Department on Friday, said Vance is 'misleading the American public in an attempt to excuse the unjustifiable blanket pardon of rioters who overtook the United States Capitol.' 'It's telling that he has not identified a single example of how these defendants' constitutional rights have been violated,' Akers said. 'The evidence in the public record speaks for itself.' After Trump's clemency order, Martin urged a judge to drop restrictions barring Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several other Jan. 6 defendants from entering Washington and the Capitol building. Martin said that if a judge barred visits to Washington from people pardoned by Joe Biden — like the former president's brother, Jim, or Gen. Mark Milley — 'I believe most Americans would object.' U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta changed course Monday, ruling that Rhodes and other Oath Keepers with commuted prison sentences are not bound by the travel restrictions he ordered last week. Martin spoke at a 'Stop the Steal' rally on the eve of the riot and served on the board of a group called the Patriot Freedom Project, which has raised money to support Jan. 6 defendants and their families. Court filings listed him as an attorney for at least three Capitol riot defendants, including a Proud Boys member who pleaded guilty to felony charges. Advertisement A day before the Capitol riot, Martin led an audience in a 'Stop the Steal' chant during a rally in Washington, D.C. 'What they're stealing is not just an election. It's our future and it's our republic,' he told the crowd. The next day, Martin attended Trump's Jan. 6 rally near the White House and posted messages on social media about the crowd. 'I'm at the Capitol right now,' Martin tweeted after the riot erupted. 'Rowdy crowd but nothing out of hand. Ignore the #FakeNews.' On a blog, he has parroted some of Trump's rhetoric about the deep state, a politically weaponized Justice Department and the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Martin said he has watched thousands of hours of video from that day. 'And, if you watch it for a while you realize that 99.9% of it is normal people doing normal things: sauntering around and through the Capitol grounds and building,' he wrote.
Wall Street Journal
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
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
【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 and Sadie Gurman at
