Latest news with #EdMartin
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
‘No MAGA left behind': Trump's pardons get even more political
As President Donald Trump's interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin was remarkably blunt about intermingling Trump's political goals with the ostensibly independent actions of the Justice Department. That might have cost him the permanent gig. So leave it to Martin, now Trump's pardon attorney, to say the quiet part out loud about Trump's pardons. 'No MAGA left behind,' Martin posted Monday on X. Martin's missive came after Trump pardoned a MAGA-supporting former Virginia sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who had been convicted of bribery. Martin's further posts suggested this pardon wasn't about rewarding a Trump ally, per se – a more problematic proposition – but rather about correcting what Trump allies argue was a weaponized Biden administration prosecution. However, if you look closely at how Trump's used his pardon power – which he has exercised dramatically this week, with a slew of new pardons and commutations on Wednesday alone – it's virtually impossible to miss the political overtones. Many of Trump's acts of clemency have rewarded an ally or someone tied to an ally, or they have served a clear and not terribly subtle political purpose. Politics have loomed over other controversial and high-profile pardons – from Andrew Jackson's, to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon, to Bill Clinton pardoning Marc Rich, to Joe Biden pardoning his own son. (Biden in his closing days also preemptively pardoned other family members and Trump critics who hadn't been accused or convicted of crimes, because Trump and his allies had suggested they could be targeted.) But Trump took things up a level by pardoning a spate of key convicted allies in his first term, often without the kind of extensive process usually used in pardons. And his second term continues to push the envelope. The big one, of course, was the blanket pardoning of virtually all January 6, 2021, defendants – about 1,500 people in total. These were people who quite literally rose up on Trump's behalf and in some cases assaulted police. Trump pardoned nearly all of them even as polling later showed 83% of Americans opposed his pardons for those convicted of violent crimes. There has been more where that came from this week. On Monday, Trump pardoned the MAGA-supporting former sheriff. Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison (during the Trump administration) for offering local businessmen positions as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in return for campaign contributions. On Tuesday, Trump made a splash when he spared reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud after their daughter campaigned extensively for Trump in 2024. Campaign assistance appears to be a common denominator for some Trump pardons. The New York Times reported on Tuesday, for example, that Trump's April pardon of convicted nursing home executive Paul Walczak came after Walczak's mother raised millions for Trump and other Republicans, sought to publicize the diary of Biden's daughter, and attended a $1-million-per-person fundraising dinner last month. Walczak even cited his mother's pro-Trump political activity in his pardon application. And on Wednesday, as Martin took to social media again to proclaim it 'pardon day,' Trump granted clemency to even more individuals, including pardoning former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm of New York. That means Trump has now pardoned no fewer than eight convicted former GOP members of Congress, between his first and second terms. Earlier in the day, Trump suggested that next in line for pardons could be two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. ('It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job,' Trump said.) Beyond the pardons mentioned above, Trump has also pardoned or granted clemency to: Former Republican Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was convicted on two separate occasions in recent decades Mark Bashaw, an officer who formerly served at the Army Public Health Center and was found guilty of violating the Biden administration's military Covid safety rules by a court martial Trevor Milton, who with his wife gave Trump's reelection effort $1.8 million just a month before the 2024 election and had been represented by lawyers with ties to Trump Ross Ulbricht, whom Trump had pledged to pardon during the 2024 campaign as an appeal to potential libertarian supporters Two key witnesses in the Biden impeachment inquiry (Devon Archer and Jason Galanis) Brian Kelsey, a Republican former state senator from Tennessee Ex-Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has supported Trump and called himself a 'Trumpocrat' Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, a Republican who some have labeled 'Lady Trump' About two dozen people convicted of blocking access to abortion clinics In case the politics of that last one weren't clear enough, Trump announced the pardons just a day before he addressed the anti-abortion-rights 'March for Life' in January. Indeed, you have to strain pretty hard to find Trump pardons or grants of clemency that don't have some kind of political element. Trump in March pardoned three cryptocurrency figures who don't have an obvious political connection to him. But he's also made inroads – both political and personal – into the crypto world, and has pushed for deregulation. He pardoned two DC police officers convicted in a deadly pursuit, and he did so with at least some support from D.C.'s police chief and Democratic mayor. But he also suggested the police had been targeted 'because they went after an illegal' – suggesting the decision was linked to his harsh anti-illegal immigration efforts. Jean Pinkard might be Trump's most normal-sounding act of clemency, given she was sentenced to just one year in prison and has battled cancer. But even there, she was represented by a lawyer who prominently pushed Trump's baseless claims of a stolen 2020 election. Trump on Wednesday also made several pardons and commutations with no immediately apparent political nexus. For instance, he commuted the sentence of former Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover, just months after Biden pardoned Hoover's second-in-command. Regardless of intent, the pattern of Trump's pardons is pretty clear. They're heavily focused on people who support Trump or have ties to him, those who targeted people Trump also doesn't like, and instances where the pardons could send messages to key constituencies. And there's no sign it's going to slow down any time soon – especially where Martin is involved.
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
Ed Martin, in his new role after US attorney nomination fizzled, is reaching out to witnesses in DOJ weaponization probes
After failing to secure confirmation as the top US attorney in Washington, DC, Ed Martin is now actively serving in multiple new roles inside the Justice Department that give him even more power to punish President Donald Trump's adversaries and reward his supporters. After the Senate torpedoed his nomination, Trump tapped Martin to serve as the director of the department's Weaponization Working Group, which focuses on investigating officials who prosecuted Trump and to serve as the department's lead pardon attorney, a historically nonpartisan position. In his first few weeks on the job, Martin has already sent letters, made calls, and even visited some individuals he believes may have relevant information for his investigations into the alleged politicization of the department, according to a source familiar with this work. On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo laying out how the weaponization group would focus on examining the state and federal investigations into Trump as well as the prosecutions related to the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and other conservative causes. Martin, the source said, is breathing new life into the effort as he takes control of the project, which has expanded to include subjects such as pardons issued by former President Joe Biden. Trump has remained fixated on the investigations he has faced and having an ally like Martin in these jobs gives him new ways to retaliate. Martin recently sent a letter to the National Archives requesting information about White House operations under the Biden administration, the source said. He is also seeking information related to Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the code name for the investigation into links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. He has not sent letters to any individuals informing them they are the target of an investigation, according to the source. Martin's multi-hyphenate role is unusual, even for an administration that wants to upend all the usual ways of doing business at the Justice Department. 'I worked at headquarters for years. Trust me that the jobs we are talking about here are all very senior and remarkably difficult. Installing one person with limited relevant experience to do three of them at once suggests that actually doing the hard work isn't a priority here — this is all about settling scores and nothing else,' former Obama Justice Department official and CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said on Martin's new roles. During his time as interim US attorney, Martin also sought information on similar subjects, but since taking up his new position at the Justice Department, he has continued this outreach for investigations that will now consume much of his time and have the backing of the attorney general. Martin has already signaled that even if his investigation does not result in criminal charges, he will try to 'shame' individuals. 'There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we'll charge them. But if they can't be charged, we will name them,' Martin told reporters at a news conference this month. 'And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.' Historically, the Justice Department has had a strict policy of not releasing details from investigations where charges were not filed. A high-profile exception to that was former FBI Director James Comey's remarks on the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. 'This Department of Justice believes that ending the weaponization of government and restoring one tier of justice for all Americans are critical missions which Ed Martin is fighting every day to achieve,' a Justice Department spokesperson said of Martin's role. Martin's ascension to this new roles has raised concerns because of how he used his power as US attorney. One of his very first actions within hours of being installed into the position was dismissing all pending January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot cases and demoting at least eight senior federal prosecutors who worked on them. He also publicly defended Elon Musk, Trump's head of the 'Department of Government Efficiency.' Martin posted a letter online that he had written to Musk, vowing that anyone who threatened or interfered with DOGE's missions would be investigated. 'Martin is President Trump's favorite US Attorney,' one source familiar with his nomination process previously told CNN. When it came time for his confirmation, however, he was unable to garner enough support from Republican senators, even after Trump personally made calls on his behalf. That prompted Trump to pull his nomination and reassign him to the Justice Department main office in roles that did not require confirmation. As pardon attorney – Martin oversees an office and staff that are focused on vetting pardon requests that have come flooding in since his appointment. He has also received requests from big firm lawyers, lobbyists, and grassroots individuals seeking to secure clemency for specific individuals, according to the source. Historically, the pardon attorney is a nonpartisan position that reviews clemency applications and makes recommendations to the White House as to who should received pardons or commutations. 'The framers left no guardrails on the president's pardon power, and for decades, it's really gotten out of control. Nonpartisan career attorneys in the office of the pardon attorney have been the one speedbump getting in the way of presidents' worst impulses,' Williams said. 'Installing someone with no experience in clemency issues and an unabashed grudge-holding streak will be disastrous for the department.' President Trump has historically made many clemency decisions on his own, but Martin's arrival in the job presents an opportunity to reward his allies for what Trump alleges is a politicization of the criminal justice system with a whole office dedicated to vetting requests. Martin has already reviewed dozens of files on requests for commutations, according to a source. The pardon office usually employs a staff of roughly 35, but that number is down after a slew of recent departures. Martin intends to oversee a traditional paperwork process where everyone will be encouraged to submit a pardon application, according to a source familiar with his plans. If the initial application meets the threshold for consideration – there will then be another layer of review which includes background research to help inform a recommendation. Martin recently received a visit from his longtime colleague Peter Ticktin, a Florida attorney working pardon recommendations for January 6 rioters, including one for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. Martin accepted the documents but had not personally reviewed them as of Tuesday. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Trump swears in ex-Fox News star who once bugged her hubby's ‘Love Boat' as top DC prosecutor
Nearly 20 years after she last had a job as a working prosecutor, former Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro is officially on board and running all criminal prosecutions, local and federal, in the nation's capital. Pirro, who until last month was a co-host of Fox's The Five panel program and previously hosted her own weekend show, took the oath of office on Wednesday in an Oval Office ceremony attended by President Donald Trump. The swearing-in formalized her appointment as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a position that had been held by Trump ally and GOP activist Ed Martin until it became clear that he lacked the support needed to be confirmed to the role on a permanent basis. Unlike Martin, whose nomination was doomed by Republican senators' concerns over his lack of experience and prior representation of January 6 rioters as a defense attorney, Pirro has experience as a working prosecutor and as a judge hearing cases in criminal court. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York's Westchester County from 1975 to 1990, when she was elected to a county judge position as a Republican. Three years later, she sought and won election as the Westchester County District Attorney, a position she would hold for more than a decade by winning subsequent elections in 1997 and 2001. But Pirro's political fortunes took a dramatic turn just before she left the District Attorney's office at the end of 2005. In August of that year, she announced that she would seek the Republican nomination in New York's 2006 Senate race against then-senator Hillary Clinton. After an awkward announcement speech during which she froze after misplacing a full page of her speech, she failed to gain enough support to convince party elders of her viability. She withdrew from the senate primary and instead ran unopposed for the GOP nomination as New York's Attorney General, facing off against Andrew Cuomo, the son of former governor Mario Cuomo who had served in the Clinton administration as Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Pirro's campaign was dogged by a tabloid-ready scandal arising out of a federal criminal probe into her push to have a boat belonging to her then-husband, Al Pirro, bugged as a way of finding out of he was cheating on her. According to the New York Post, federal prosecutors working for then-U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia investigated 'allegations recently brought to our attention by other law-enforcement agencies' alongside the FBI and Pirro's former office in Westchester. She could have faced illegal wiretapping charges that carried a five-year prison sentence. Pirro was caught up in a separate probe of ex-New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Investigators who were monitoring Kerik's phone calls heard her urging the ex-commissioner to order workers at his private security company to place listening devices on her boat. When he said his employees were reluctant to do so, she told Kerik: 'I'll put the f**king thing on myself.' Pirro maintained that no illegal taping had ever taken place, but she went on to lose that election to Cuomo by double digits. Two years later, she returned to the judge's bench — sort of — as the host of an eponymous weekday courtroom program on the CW television network called Judge Jeanine Pirro. In 2009, the show's second season earned her a Daytime Emmy Award, but by 2011 it was canceled due to poor ratings. Pirro wasn't off television for long, however. Her legal background and Republican bona fides earned her a place on Fox News, where her Justice with Judge Jeanine weekend show premiered in January 2011. For the next eleven years, Pirro offered incendiary commentary that was often heavy on bombast but short on facts, landing her and her employer in one controversy after another. One March 2019 episode of her show was spiked after she was suspended by Fox for making offensive comments about Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar in which she suggested that Omar, a practicing Muslim who wears a head covering, wasn't fully loyal to the United States. At the time, her suspension led President Donald Trump to speak up on her behalf. Writing on what was then known as Twitter, Trump wrote: 'Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro. Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down, and continue to fight for our Country.' Her show resumed at the end of March 2019, but a year later she ran smack into another controversy while broadcasting from home during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was March 2020, and Pirro missed the first 15 minutes of the program. When she did appear, she was disheveled and was speaking in a slurred manner leading some observers to suggest she was drunk on the air. At the time, a Fox spokesperson claimed her less than polished speech was due to a non-functioning teleprompter rather than intoxication, but that didn't stop the perception of drunkenness from becoming part and parcel of Pirro's image in popular culture. She was frequently parodied on NBC's Saturday Night Live by Cecily Strong, whose portrayal of Pirro always included a glass full of what appeared to be red wine. Regardless of whether she was sober or not, Pirro remained a staunch defender of Trump to the point where she was one of the fiercest advocates of his false stolen election claims after he lost the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden. That support was rewarded when Trump, at her request, pardoned her ex-husband on tax evasion charges shortly before leaving office after his first term. Pirro was among the Fox personalities named in a February 2021 defamation suit from voting machine maker Smartmatic, which she and others had accused along with Dominion Voting Systems, of making machines that were designed to help Democrats rig elections. In the wake of the lawsuits, Fox pulled her show off the air and reassigned her to be a co-host on The Five. The network settled a similar suit from Dominion for $787 million in 2023. Smartmatic's litigation against Fox is still ongoing.
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
Trump's New Pardon Attorney Is Eager to Target Biden-Era Cases
WASHINGTON—After a star-crossed stint as the District of Columbia's top prosecutor, Ed Martin, a Trump loyalist, has a new role as the Justice Department's pardon attorney—and he is quickly using it to target Biden-era prosecutions that rankled conservatives. Martin's first clemency recommendation was successful Monday, when President Trump said he would pardon Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted of corruption-related charges and was set to begin serving a 10-year-sentence this week.
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Trump's new pardon attorney discussed pardoning final Jan. 6 defendants — including Oath Keepers' Stewart Rhodes, lawyer says
New Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin has discussed pardon applications for some of the only remaining Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants who weren't given full clemency by President Trump, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer told CBS News. Peter Ticktin, an attorney working to secure full pardons for a number of Jan. 6 defendants, told CBS News he met with Martin last week to discuss pardon requests for Rhodes and 10 others. Martin was in his first full week in his new job as pardon attorney after Mr. Trump withdrew his nomination to serve as U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. Martin posted photos of his meeting with Ticktin on X last week, saying Ticktin had "recommendations for pardons" and "I listened." CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. Ticktin said that in addition to a potential pardon for Rhodes, pardon applications were discussed for Proud Boys Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Ticktin also mentioned applications for Dan Wilson and Elias Costianes, two other Jan 6 defendants who still face prison sentences due to firearm charges unrelated to the Capitol riot. Politico was first to report on Ticktin's conversation about Rhodes. Mr. Trump issued pardons to almost everybody convicted over the Jan. 6 riot on the first day of his second term, and he directed any pending charges to be dropped. However, a group of 14 current and former members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — including Rhodes — were only given commutations that allowed them to leave prison but left their criminal convictions in place. Many of those defendants were found guilty of more serious charges, like conspiring to use force to resist the transfer of power and seditious conspiracy. More than 1,500 people were charged as a result of their alleged conduct on Jan. 6, and at least 1,100 have had their cases adjudicated and received sentences, according to Justice Department data. More than 700 defendants completed their sentences or did not receive sentences of incarceration. More than 170 people were accused of using a deadly or dangerous weapon, such as a fire extinguisher or bear spray, against police officers, prosecutors have said. Ticktin is working with Jan. 6 defendant Trenniss Evans, who was sentenced to 36 months of probation and 20 days of prison time for his actions on Jan. 6. He pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building in 2022. Evans, who is CEO of the conservative nonprofit American Rights Alliance, told CBS News his expectation is that the 11 pardon applications submitted to Martin will go through the standard review process. He said his group had so far received no assurances from Martin or the Justice Department on whether the pardons will be granted. "The only assurances that we have is that we have people that are in the Justice Department now and in the proper places in the administration that are going to give a realistic and fair review to these cases because of the nauseating stance that the previous administration took against individuals related to January 6," Evans told CBS News. The next step in the pardon process, Ticktin said, is for Martin to consult with Alice Johnson, Mr. Trump's "pardon czar," who was granted clemency in Mr. Trump's first term after more than two decades of prison time for a nonviolent drug offense. "She's got a pretty important position at this point. I mean, she's the one that has to decide these things," Ticktin told CBS News. "Pardons need to be given out, but at the same time, none should be given out, you know, indiscriminately." Ticktin said he is working with Mark McCloskey, the man who infamously pointed a firearm at Black Lives Matter protestors back in 2020, to file civil suits against the government for their treatment of Jan. 6 defendants. "These are good American citizens, the kind of people that most people would enjoy being with, except that they were used as pawns here and incarcerated the way they were," Ticktin told CBS News. How Trump has used his pardon power So far in his second term, Mr. Trump has pardoned Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on public corruption charges related to attempts to sell former President Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat, and Ross Ulbricht, who was sent to life in prison for his role in creating and operating the darknet market Silk Road. On Monday, Trump said he was pardoning Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted of making several businessmen sworn law enforcement officers in exchange for cash bribes. The Constitution gives presidents virtually limitless power to pardon people for federal crimes. Many presidents have drawn controversy for how they've used this power: Mr. Trump issued pardons in his first term to his former campaign chair Paul Manafort and his son-in-law's father Charles Kushner, while Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter and Bill Clinton pardoned financier Marc Rich. But legal experts say Mr. Trump's clemency for Jan. 6 rioters — including people convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers — has been particularly broad, especially after Mr. Trump previously said he planned on offering "case-by-case" pardons to riot defendants. Ticktin said that he also spoke to Martin about former Arkansas State Senator Jonathan Woods, who was sentenced in 2018 to more than 18 years in prison for a bribery scheme. Woods' case was prosecuted in part by former special counsel Jack Smith when he led the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section between 2010 and 2015, before prosecuting Mr. Trump. In addition to the 11 pardon applications submitted last week, Evans said his group is working to "seek justice" for Tina Peters, a former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who was sentenced to over eight years in prison on state charges. Peters was convicted of giving a man affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated in the 2020 election — access to county election systems. Jurors found Peters guilty of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with Colorado's Secretary of State. Since her charges were in state court, Mr. Trump is unable to pardon her.
