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Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Ed Martin Failed His Way to D.C.
Among Donald Trump's team of losers, few are more emblematic of how unbending loyalty outweighs political success than Ed Martin, the acting United States attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin, 54, has never won an election for public office, despite running multiple times. His tenure as chairman of the Missouri Republican Party more than a decade ago was unremarkable, while his time as chief of staff to Missouri's governor ended with Martin resigning amid a scandal. For years before Trump entered the political arena, Martin bounced around various conservative advocacy groups in Missouri and nationally without much in the way of real victories to his name. But since 2016, Martin has attached himself, like a barnacle, to the hull of the Trump ship. For 10 years, he has been a prominent conservative defender of Trump in op-eds and media appearances. He later became a vocal proponent of the idea that the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump, attended the march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and even represented January 6 defendants. When the House select committee investigating that event subpoenaed him, he refused to show up. For all this, he was rewarded with a post as the top federal prosecutor in the nation's capital. Of course, Martin's combative style and 'Stop the Steal' past are big reasons his days in this particular office might be numbered. His statutorily limited time as an acting employee, defined as 120 days by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, ends later this month on May 20. There are signs suggesting the Senate may not confirm him, especially since Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California placed a hold on his nomination last month, meaning Republicans will have to spend valuable floor time to get around this procedural block. On Monday evening and with Martin's deadline rapidly approaching, Trump himself lent his nominee support in a Truth Social post. 'Ed Martin is going through the approval process to be U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. According to many but, in particular, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., his approval is IMPERATIVE in terms of doing all that has to be done to SAVE LIVES and to, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN. This is a passion for Ed, more so than for almost anyone that I have seen,' Trump posted. 'We are going to take our Country BACK, and FAST. Ed Martin will be a big player in doing so and, I hope, that the Republican Senators will make a commitment to his approval, which is now before them.' And for the past 100-plus days Martin, who did not respond to a request for comment, has been proving his commitment to MAGA. He's tried to use his plum post at the Department of Justice as a blunt political force to fight Trumpian culture wars, threatening legal action against everyone from obscure medical journals to Wikipedia. In early January, Martin dismissed all of the prosecutors in his office who had been working on January 6 riot cases. In a slavering letter to Elon Musk, Martin has offered staff resources to 'protect' DOGE staffers and promised to 'pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people.' And from his official DOJ Twitter account, he has amplified evidence-free claims that certain high-ranking foreign policy officials from the Biden administration have violated the law. One of Martin's most notorious actions came in February, when he sent a letter to the dean of the Georgetown University Law Center declaring the school's teaching and promotion of DEI (that is, diversity, equity, and inclusion) is 'unacceptable.' 'At this time, you should know that no applicant for our fellows program, our summer internship, or employment in our office who is a student or affiliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI will be considered,' Martin wrote. William Treanor, the dean of the Jesuit university's law school, replied in a letter that effectively told Martin to pound sand. The First Amendment, Treanor reminded him, protects Georgetown University from government interference in what and how it teaches. 'This is a bedrock principle of constitutional law – recognized not only by the courts, but by the administration in which you serve,' the dean wrote. 'The Department of Education confirmed last week that it cannot restrict First Amendment rights and that it is statutorily prohibited from 'exercising control over the content of school curricula.'' Still, given his temporary status, Martin's U.S. attorney tenure has so far been pretty much all hat and no cattle, a familiar dynamic for longtime observers of his political career. Born in New Jersey, Martin came to Missouri when he decided to attend Saint Louis University's law school. After graduating, he worked for the Archdiocese of St. Louis as the head of its human rights office. 'Ed did not understand the difference between charity and human rights,' Angie O'Gorman, a staffer in the office whom Martin fired, later told St. Louis Magazine. Following a few years of working in private practice, representing pro-life organizations and getting involved in conservative activism, Martin was hired in 2006 to serve as chief of staff to Matt Blunt, Missouri's young, first-term Republican governor who found himself struggling in the polls and in need of a political bruiser. 'He's extraordinarily good at politics,' Emily Lampkin, a conservative activist originally from St. Louis, told me. 'If I had to go into a political battle, I'm totally taking Ed.' But in Blunt's office, things went awry quickly. Martin's habit of deleting his work emails, in apparent violation of the state's 'sunshine' government records law, raised the internal alarms of an attorney on Blunt's staff, whom Martin subsequently fired. The attorney sued for wrongful termination, which prompted a media blitz to get access to the emails and a special investigation by the office of the Democratic attorney general. Martin, it turned out, was not only alleged to have violated the sunshine law but appeared to have used his official position to coordinate with outside political groups improperly. In November 2007, Martin resigned from his position without explanation, and Blunt soon after announced he would not run for reelection. (The investigation ended after Blunt left office, and without a conclusive report.) A few years later, Martin himself tried to run for office, coming tantalizingly close (by just a couple thousand votes) to defeating incumbent Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan in 2010, otherwise a banner year for Republican House candidates. A few months later, Martin tried again, first setting his sights on challenging Sen. Claire McCaskill in the 2012 cycle before deciding instead to run for a different House seat held by Republican Todd Akin, who was running in the Senate race. Martin dropped out of the crowded House primary as well in order to run for state attorney general. He won the Republican primary but lost the general election to the incumbent, Democrat Chris Koster. Apparently chastened out of a career as a candidate, Martin was elected chairman of the Missouri GOP in 2013, serving for a little over two years. In 2015 Martin got involved with the Eagle Forum, a longtime conservative advocacy group based in St. Louis and founded by the legendary activist Phyllis Schlafly. It was a collaboration doomed to divide the organization and the Schlafly family as soon as Martin took over as president of Eagle Forum in 2015. A dispute arose over whom the organization should endorse in the Republican nomination for president—some of the board (including Anne Schlafly Cori, one of Schlafly's daughters) wanted to support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but others preferred Trump, including Martin and several others among Schlafly's children. Schlafly's advanced age and cancer diagnosis complicated the story of who better represented the conservative icon's views. The Eagle Forum board removed Martin, and he and the other pro-Trump members departed to start Phyllis Schafly's Eagles, a competing organization. For years, the Schlafly family was torn apart by the subsequent litigation. 'Ed is a pathological liar,' Cori told me recently. The youngest Schlafly child, who now chairs the Eagle Forum, has claimed that Martin took advantage of her mother in her final years to sway her toward Trump. The book Phyllis Schlafly coauthored with Martin, The Conservative Case for Trump published in September 2016 the day after she died. During Trump's first term, Martin was a dedicated pro-Trump voice on radio and TV, including a brief stint as an on-air contributor to CNN. In 2019, he gave elected office one more go, getting trounced in a longshot bid for a seat on the board of supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia. But within two years, he would find his next calling as a prominent advocate for Trump's false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. Martin appeared at the January 6 rally on the Ellipse and later marched on the Capitol, though he did not appear to enter the building or break any laws that day. And he later represented January 6 defendants, including Proud Boys members, in court. From there, his path was clear. Martin was named deputy director of the 2024 Republican National Committee platform committee, and had initially been named chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's transition last year before being tapped for the U.S. attorney role, despite having little apparent experience as a prosecutor. It's been a long journey, but Martin finally made his way to the halls of power in Washington. And even if Schiff's hold on his nomination and Republican squeamishness about approving him means Martin has to leave office on May 20, it's unlikely to be the last stop in this administration for the ambitious but long-struggling political figure.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's pick to be DC's top prosecutor failed to report nearly 200 appearances on far-right media outlets to Senate
Ed Martin, the Trump administration's nominee to serve as US attorney for Washington, DC, failed to report hundreds of media appearances he's made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media, when he first filed his mandated disclosure forms to Congress, a CNN review found. Martin, a longtime conservative activist and former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, has filled the role in an acting capacity since January. He's drawn attention for a number of controversial moves during his tenure, including referring to the nation's largest office of federal prosecutors as 'President Trumps' [sic] lawyers,' and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases. After Trump formally nominated him for the permanent job in March, Martin submitted mandatory paperwork to the Senate, including what is supposed to be a detailed account of all his past media appearances. But a CNN KFile analysis of Martin's initial 27-page disclosure form reveals that it does not come close to capturing the extent of his media appearances, and it lacks any reference to at least 240 podcast, radio and TV interviews he's done in the past two years alone . Martin has subsequently updated his disclosures twice this month, including filing a 12-page supplemental form dated April 15 that listed dozens more media appearances. Still, overall, his disclosures fail to capture the vast majority of his media appearances over the years. CNN tallied 198 appearances Martin failed to disclose between 2023 and 2024, including ones in which he suggested that, as US attorney for DC, he would prosecute family members of former President Joe Biden and criminally charge people involved in federal investigations into Trump. Martin noted in his initial disclosure form in March that there 'may be other materials I have been unable to identify, find or remember.' Just as he did in his April 7 disclosure update, Martin wrote in Tuesday's submission, 'I regret the errors and apologize for any inconvenience.' While it's not unusual for nominees from either party to omit some media appearances and later amend their disclosure forms, Martin's omissions in some cases appear to be glaring. He initially listed zero media appearances in 2023, for instance, but according to a CNN tally, he made at least 124 separate appearances across podcasts, radio shows and television that year. Martin's updated form includes 19 appearances from 2023, leaving at least 105 appearances still unaccounted for. Even the updates Martin submitted on Tuesday were incomplete. Most of the web links he provided do not work. And on multiple occasions, Martin failed to capture all of his appearances on a given day. For example, he added one interview with Sputnik on December 13, 2023, but failed to include three other podcast appearances CNN found from that day. While Martin disclosed his podcast, 'The Pro America Report with Ed Martin,' in his paperwork, the episodes are unavailable to listen to across most major podcasting platforms. At some point, within the five days before Martin submitted his paperwork to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late March, all episodes of his podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify were unavailable, according to a source involved in the committee review process. CNN, however, saved those podcast episodes earlier this year. Martin amended some of his disclosure paperwork in the early April letter sent to the committee and pushed back on committee Democrats who publicly accused him of removing 'nearly 1,000 hours' of podcasts from online platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 'I want to make clear that I have never deleted or removed my podcasts,' Martin wrote in a letter to the panel reviewed by CNN. 'After review, it appears those platforms are aggregating my podcasts, possibly for UX or storage purposes.' Martin pointed to segments of his podcast on SoundCloud, which he did not include in his paperwork but are available to listen to, and he claimed that 'online platforms appear to be reconfiguring podcast titles and segments unbeknownst to me.' A Spotify spokesperson told CNN it did not remove the show from its platform. CNN reached out to Apple for comment but did not receive a response. The undisclosed appearances mostly include Martin's comments on far-right outlets as well as at least 27 appearances on Russian-state podcasts in 2023 and 2024. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Martin appeared on Russian state media more than 150 times between 2016 and 2024. A Martin spokesperson told the Post, 'Mr. Martin has disclosed all of the [Washington Post] identified links in a supplemental letter to the Senate.' 'This is routine activity in preparation for confirmation,' said the spokesperson and referred questions to the White House. In response to a detailed list of questions, Martin's office referred CNN to the White House, which did not respond. One former Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee staffer who worked on confirming Democratic and Republican nominees during the Clinton and Bush administrations said a scenario where an individual did not disclose multiple speeches or appearances would be a 'huge concern' and 'super problematic.' 'There would be criticism of the Justice Department for failing to properly vet the nominee and make sure that it was disclosed,' said the former staffer, who didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation by Martin. 'But the predominant consequence in a normal political environment would be that the person might not be confirmed because they hid information or failed to disclose relevant information.' The clock is ticking on Martin's nomination, which the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, has not moved forward. Martin's status as acting US attorney expires on May 20, according to federal law. With the Senate scheduled to be out of town for the next two weeks, the timeline could get tight on bringing his nomination to a floor vote. Congressional Democrats have sought probes into Martin's prosecutorial conduct. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff earlier this month placed a hold on Martin's nomination because of Martin's rhetoric and conduct, which delays Republicans from moving forward and complicates the process. And Democrats have even taken the rare step of requesting a confirmation hearing. While Martin is known for attacking Democrats, he has also gone after Republican lawmakers, and some are starting to raise concerns. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, whom Martin once derided as 'soft' for supporting a bipartisan gun safety bill, told CNN last week that Martin was 'controversial' and said he is pushing for the panel to hold a hearing. 'I always think hearings are helpful,' said Cornyn, who added the idea of holding a hearing on Martin is being discussed among Senate Judiciary Republicans. But in a statement to CNN, Grassley spokeswoman Clare Slattery indicated that the senator does not intend to hold hearings on Martin's nomination. 'The Senate Judiciary Committee hasn't held a hearing for a US Attorney nominee in more than 40 years, and not once in the time Grassley has chaired or been ranking on the committee. Chairman Grassley intends to maintain this precedent,' the statement said. 'The committee expects nominees to fully disclose all required materials as part of the standard nominations process, and Martin continues to make disclosures as part of that process.' In other past comments, Martin referred to Utah Sen. John Curtis as a 'supposed Republican' and 'traitor' for voting to extend the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. He said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 'pretends to represent conservatives' and deserved to be primaried, and he praised the potential censure of Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins because she voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Martin also said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell was part of a 'swamp fix' who became rich from their work in government. This month, five former prosecutors who worked on January 6, 2021, cases sent a letter urging the DC bar's legal disciplinary office to investigate Martin for his conduct, citing Martin's public statements in which he suggested investigating 'perceived political enemies of himself and the President.' Martin has a history of staking out hardline, socially conservative positions, including publicly advocating for a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest. He's even raised the idea of imposing criminal penalties on women and doctors involved in abortions, as CNN's KFile has previously reported. Prior to heading one of the nation's most powerful US attorney's offices, Martin had no prosecutorial experience. He has served as a defense attorney for a handful of January 6 rioters. During his four months as acting US attorney for Washington, DC, Martin has displayed his loyalty to Trump : He ordered a series of firings, demotions and reassignments of prosecutors working January 6 cases. He launched his own probes into Capitol riot prosecutions and the legality of Biden's twilight pardons, and he publicly promised Elon Musk that his office would investigate people threatening Musk and his government workers and 'chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable.' The New York Times reported earlier this month that Martin's office is pursuing an inquiry into Biden's pardons of his family members. Martin previously worked as the president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles – a socially conservative advocacy group named for the late anti-feminist activist. He was a leader in the 'Stop the Steal' movement that falsely claimed Trump won the 2020 presidential election. In comments from a December 2024 radio interview that Martin failed to disclose, Martin criticized Biden for pardoning his son Hunter Biden. 'If I was the US attorney in Washington, DC, on January 21, I would impanel a grand jury. And I would call Hunter Biden before the grand jury, who has to go without a lawyer, and he has to answer questions because now he has immunity from prosecution. So the protection under the Constitution of not incriminating yourself goes away if you're immune,' said Martin on 'The Stevie Jay Morning Show.' 'If he doesn't answer the questions or he lies, he goes to jail because that's a new crime. It's not covered by Biden as the pardon,' said Martin, adding that he would like to look at other Biden family members who received pardons, naming the former president's brother James. A week after the podcast episode aired, Martin was tapped to be the next chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget. But by January 20, Trump appointed him as the interim US attorney for Washington, DC. And in previously unreported comments Martin made on his podcast in August 2023, Martin said that the people involved in federal investigations into Trump should face criminal investigations and be 'charged under RICO,' which refers to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, most famously used to prosecute organized crime in the 1970s and 1980s. Martin has also repeated January 6 conspiracy theories that 'Antifa' was possibly behind the violence and about the pipe bombs found near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters that day, insisting that 'something stinks. Something stinks to high heaven.' Martin said in a March 2024 episode of his podcast that 'if the FBI really can't find out what happened,' it's because 'either the FBI is corrupt, which I'm not willing to say yet, or someone bigger than the FBI has made it.' He then baselessly speculated whether the military was involved in planting the pipe bombs. 'I remember someone told me afterwards that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the military, has a lot of special ops things going on. I don't know if that's true. I'm just saying something bigger than the FBI is needed to hide this. Because the FBI has the tools to find something like this,' Martin said. CNN's Kate Carroll and Winter Hawk contributed to this story.
CNN
17-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump's pick to be DC's top prosecutor failed to report nearly 200 appearances on far-right media outlets to Senate
Ed Martin, the Trump administration's nominee to serve as US attorney for Washington, DC, failed to report hundreds of media appearances he's made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media, when he first filed his mandated disclosure forms to Congress, a CNN review found. Martin, a longtime conservative activist and former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, has filled the role in an acting capacity since January. He's drawn attention for a number of controversial moves during his tenure, including referring to the nation's largest office of federal prosecutors as 'President Trumps' [sic] lawyers,' and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases. After Trump formally nominated him for the permanent job in March, Martin submitted mandatory paperwork to the Senate, including what is supposed to be a detailed account of all his past media appearances. But a CNN KFile analysis of Martin's initial 27-page disclosure form reveals that it does not come close to capturing the extent of his media appearances, and it lacks any reference to at least 240 podcast, radio and TV interviews he's done in the past two years alone . Martin has subsequently updated his disclosures twice this month, including filing a 12-page supplemental form dated April 15 that listed dozens more media appearances. Still, overall, his disclosures fail to capture the vast majority of his media appearances over the years. CNN tallied 198 appearances Martin failed to disclose between 2023 and 2024, including ones in which he suggested that, as US attorney for DC, he would prosecute family members of former President Joe Biden and criminally charge people involved in federal investigations into Trump. Martin noted in his initial disclosure form in March that there 'may be other materials I have been unable to identify, find or remember.' Just as he did in his April 7 disclosure update, Martin wrote in Tuesday's submission, 'I regret the errors and apologize for any inconvenience.' While it's not unusual for nominees from either party to omit some media appearances and later amend their disclosure forms, Martin's omissions in some cases appear to be glaring. He initially listed zero media appearances in 2023, for instance, but according to a CNN tally, he made at least 124 separate appearances across podcasts, radio shows and television that year. Martin's updated form includes 19 appearances from 2023, leaving at least 105 appearances still unaccounted for. Even the updates Martin submitted on Tuesday were incomplete. Most of the web links he provided do not work. And on multiple occasions, Martin failed to capture all of his appearances on a given day. For example, he added one interview with Sputnik on December 13, 2023, but failed to include three other podcast appearances CNN found from that day. While Martin disclosed his podcast, 'The Pro America Report with Ed Martin,' in his paperwork, the episodes are unavailable to listen to across most major podcasting platforms. At some point, within the five days before Martin submitted his paperwork to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late March, all episodes of his podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify were unavailable, according to a source involved in the committee review process. CNN, however, saved those podcast episodes earlier this year. Martin amended some of his disclosure paperwork in the early April letter sent to the committee and pushed back on committee Democrats who publicly accused him of removing 'nearly 1,000 hours' of podcasts from online platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 'I want to make clear that I have never deleted or removed my podcasts,' Martin wrote in a letter to the panel reviewed by CNN. 'After review, it appears those platforms are aggregating my podcasts, possibly for UX or storage purposes.' Martin pointed to segments of his podcast on SoundCloud, which he did not include in his paperwork but are available to listen to, and he claimed that 'online platforms appear to be reconfiguring podcast titles and segments unbeknownst to me.' A Spotify spokesperson told CNN it did not remove the show from its platform. CNN reached out to Apple for comment but did not receive a response. The undisclosed appearances mostly include Martin's comments on far-right outlets as well as at least 27 appearances on Russian-state podcasts in 2023 and 2024. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Martin appeared on Russian state media more than 150 times between 2016 and 2024. A Martin spokesperson told the Post, 'Mr. Martin has disclosed all of the [Washington Post] identified links in a supplemental letter to the Senate.' 'This is routine activity in preparation for confirmation,' said the spokesperson and referred questions to the White House. In response to a detailed list of questions, Martin's office referred CNN to the White House, which did not respond. One former Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee staffer who worked on confirming Democratic and Republican nominees during the Clinton and Bush administrations said a scenario where an individual did not disclose multiple speeches or appearances would be a 'huge concern' and 'super problematic.' 'There would be criticism of the Justice Department for failing to properly vet the nominee and make sure that it was disclosed,' said the former staffer, who didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation by Martin. 'But the predominant consequence in a normal political environment would be that the person might not be confirmed because they hid information or failed to disclose relevant information.' The clock is ticking on Martin's nomination, which the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, has not moved forward. Martin's status as acting US attorney expires on May 20, according to federal law. With the Senate scheduled to be out of town for the next two weeks, the timeline could get tight on bringing his nomination to a floor vote. Congressional Democrats have sought probes into Martin's prosecutorial conduct. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff earlier this month placed a hold on Martin's nomination because of Martin's rhetoric and conduct, which delays Republicans from moving forward and complicates the process. And Democrats have even taken the rare step of requesting a confirmation hearing. While Martin is known for attacking Democrats, he has also gone after Republican lawmakers, and some are starting to raise concerns. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, whom Martin once derided as 'soft' for supporting a bipartisan gun safety bill, told CNN last week that Martin was 'controversial' and said he is pushing for the panel to hold a hearing. 'I always think hearings are helpful,' said Cornyn, who added the idea of holding a hearing on Martin is being discussed among Senate Judiciary Republicans. But in a statement to CNN, Grassley spokeswoman Clare Slattery indicated that the senator does not intend to hold hearings on Martin's nomination. 'The Senate Judiciary Committee hasn't held a hearing for a US Attorney nominee in more than 40 years, and not once in the time Grassley has chaired or been ranking on the committee. Chairman Grassley intends to maintain this precedent,' the statement said. 'The committee expects nominees to fully disclose all required materials as part of the standard nominations process, and Martin continues to make disclosures as part of that process.' In other past comments, Martin referred to Utah Sen. John Curtis as a 'supposed Republican' and 'traitor' for voting to extend the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. He said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 'pretends to represent conservatives' and deserved to be primaried, and he praised the potential censure of Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins because she voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Martin also said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell was part of a 'swamp fix' who became rich from their work in government. This month, five former prosecutors who worked on January 6, 2021, cases sent a letter urging the DC bar's legal disciplinary office to investigate Martin for his conduct, citing Martin's public statements in which he suggested investigating 'perceived political enemies of himself and the President.' Martin has a history of staking out hardline, socially conservative positions, including publicly advocating for a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest. He's even raised the idea of imposing criminal penalties on women and doctors involved in abortions, as CNN's KFile has previously reported. Prior to heading one of the nation's most powerful US attorney's offices, Martin had no prosecutorial experience. He has served as a defense attorney for a handful of January 6 rioters. During his four months as acting US attorney for Washington, DC, Martin has displayed his loyalty to Trump : He ordered a series of firings, demotions and reassignments of prosecutors working January 6 cases. He launched his own probes into Capitol riot prosecutions and the legality of Biden's twilight pardons, and he publicly promised Elon Musk that his office would investigate people threatening Musk and his government workers and 'chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable.' The New York Times reported earlier this month that Martin's office is pursuing an inquiry into Biden's pardons of his family members. Martin previously worked as the president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles – a socially conservative advocacy group named for the late anti-feminist activist. He was a leader in the 'Stop the Steal' movement that falsely claimed Trump won the 2020 presidential election. In comments from a December 2024 radio interview that Martin failed to disclose, Martin criticized Biden for pardoning his son Hunter Biden. 'If I was the US attorney in Washington, DC, on January 21, I would impanel a grand jury. And I would call Hunter Biden before the grand jury, who has to go without a lawyer, and he has to answer questions because now he has immunity from prosecution. So the protection under the Constitution of not incriminating yourself goes away if you're immune,' said Martin on 'The Stevie Jay Morning Show.' 'If he doesn't answer the questions or he lies, he goes to jail because that's a new crime. It's not covered by Biden as the pardon,' said Martin, adding that he would like to look at other Biden family members who received pardons, naming the former president's brother James. A week after the podcast episode aired, Martin was tapped to be the next chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget. But by January 20, Trump appointed him as the interim US attorney for Washington, DC. And in previously unreported comments Martin made on his podcast in August 2023, Martin said that the people involved in federal investigations into Trump should face criminal investigations and be 'charged under RICO,' which refers to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, most famously used to prosecute organized crime in the 1970s and 1980s. Martin has also repeated January 6 conspiracy theories that 'Antifa' was possibly behind the violence and about the pipe bombs found near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters that day, insisting that 'something stinks. Something stinks to high heaven.' Martin said in a March 2024 episode of his podcast that 'if the FBI really can't find out what happened,' it's because 'either the FBI is corrupt, which I'm not willing to say yet, or someone bigger than the FBI has made it.' He then baselessly speculated whether the military was involved in planting the pipe bombs. 'I remember someone told me afterwards that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the military, has a lot of special ops things going on. I don't know if that's true. I'm just saying something bigger than the FBI is needed to hide this. Because the FBI has the tools to find something like this,' Martin said. CNN's Kate Carroll and Winter Hawk contributed to this story.
CNN
17-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump's pick to be DC's top prosecutor failed to report nearly 200 appearances on far-right media outlets to Senate
Ed Martin, the Trump administration's nominee to serve as US attorney for Washington, DC, failed to report hundreds of media appearances he's made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media, when he first filed his mandated disclosure forms to Congress, a CNN review found. Martin, a longtime conservative activist and former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, has filled the role in an acting capacity since January. He's drawn attention for a number of controversial moves during his tenure, including referring to the nation's largest office of federal prosecutors as 'President Trumps' [sic] lawyers,' and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases. After Trump formally nominated him for the permanent job in March, Martin submitted mandatory paperwork to the Senate, including what is supposed to be a detailed account of all his past media appearances. But a CNN KFile analysis of Martin's initial 27-page disclosure form reveals that it does not come close to capturing the extent of his media appearances, and it lacks any reference to at least 240 podcast, radio and TV interviews he's done in the past two years alone . Martin has subsequently updated his disclosures twice this month, including filing a 12-page supplemental form dated April 15 that listed dozens more media appearances. Still, overall, his disclosures fail to capture the vast majority of his media appearances over the years. CNN tallied 198 appearances Martin failed to disclose between 2023 and 2024, including ones in which he suggested that, as US attorney for DC, he would prosecute family members of former President Joe Biden and criminally charge people involved in federal investigations into Trump. Martin noted in his initial disclosure form in March that there 'may be other materials I have been unable to identify, find or remember.' Just as he did in his April 7 disclosure update, Martin wrote in Tuesday's submission, 'I regret the errors and apologize for any inconvenience.' While it's not unusual for nominees from either party to omit some media appearances and later amend their disclosure forms, Martin's omissions in some cases appear to be glaring. He initially listed zero media appearances in 2023, for instance, but according to a CNN tally, he made at least 124 separate appearances across podcasts, radio shows and television that year. Martin's updated form includes 19 appearances from 2023, leaving at least 105 appearances still unaccounted for. Even the updates Martin submitted on Tuesday were incomplete. Most of the web links he provided do not work. And on multiple occasions, Martin failed to capture all of his appearances on a given day. For example, he added one interview with Sputnik on December 13, 2023, but failed to include three other podcast appearances CNN found from that day. While Martin disclosed his podcast, 'The Pro America Report with Ed Martin,' in his paperwork, the episodes are unavailable to listen to across most major podcasting platforms. At some point, within the five days before Martin submitted his paperwork to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late March, all episodes of his podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify were unavailable, according to a source involved in the committee review process. CNN, however, saved those podcast episodes earlier this year. Martin amended some of his disclosure paperwork in the early April letter sent to the committee and pushed back on committee Democrats who publicly accused him of removing 'nearly 1,000 hours' of podcasts from online platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 'I want to make clear that I have never deleted or removed my podcasts,' Martin wrote in a letter to the panel reviewed by CNN. 'After review, it appears those platforms are aggregating my podcasts, possibly for UX or storage purposes.' Martin pointed to segments of his podcast on SoundCloud, which he did not include in his paperwork but are available to listen to, and he claimed that 'online platforms appear to be reconfiguring podcast titles and segments unbeknownst to me.' A Spotify spokesperson told CNN it did not remove the show from its platform. CNN reached out to Apple for comment but did not receive a response. The undisclosed appearances mostly include Martin's comments on far-right outlets as well as at least 27 appearances on Russian-state podcasts in 2023 and 2024. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Martin appeared on Russian state media more than 150 times between 2016 and 2024. A Martin spokesperson told the Post, 'Mr. Martin has disclosed all of the [Washington Post] identified links in a supplemental letter to the Senate.' 'This is routine activity in preparation for confirmation,' said the spokesperson and referred questions to the White House. In response to a detailed list of questions, Martin's office referred CNN to the White House, which did not respond. One former Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee staffer who worked on confirming Democratic and Republican nominees during the Clinton and Bush administrations said a scenario where an individual did not disclose multiple speeches or appearances would be a 'huge concern' and 'super problematic.' 'There would be criticism of the Justice Department for failing to properly vet the nominee and make sure that it was disclosed,' said the former staffer, who didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation by Martin. 'But the predominant consequence in a normal political environment would be that the person might not be confirmed because they hid information or failed to disclose relevant information.' The clock is ticking on Martin's nomination, which the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, has not moved forward. Martin's status as acting US attorney expires on May 20, according to federal law. With the Senate scheduled to be out of town for the next two weeks, the timeline could get tight on bringing his nomination to a floor vote. Congressional Democrats have sought probes into Martin's prosecutorial conduct. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff earlier this month placed a hold on Martin's nomination because of Martin's rhetoric and conduct, which delays Republicans from moving forward and complicates the process. And Democrats have even taken the rare step of requesting a confirmation hearing. While Martin is known for attacking Democrats, he has also gone after Republican lawmakers, and some are starting to raise concerns. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, whom Martin once derided as 'soft' for supporting a bipartisan gun safety bill, told CNN last week that Martin was 'controversial' and said he is pushing for the panel to hold a hearing. 'I always think hearings are helpful,' said Cornyn, who added the idea of holding a hearing on Martin is being discussed among Senate Judiciary Republicans. But in a statement to CNN, Grassley spokeswoman Clare Slattery indicated that the senator does not intend to hold hearings on Martin's nomination. 'The Senate Judiciary Committee hasn't held a hearing for a US Attorney nominee in more than 40 years, and not once in the time Grassley has chaired or been ranking on the committee. Chairman Grassley intends to maintain this precedent,' the statement said. 'The committee expects nominees to fully disclose all required materials as part of the standard nominations process, and Martin continues to make disclosures as part of that process.' In other past comments, Martin referred to Utah Sen. John Curtis as a 'supposed Republican' and 'traitor' for voting to extend the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. He said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 'pretends to represent conservatives' and deserved to be primaried, and he praised the potential censure of Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins because she voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Martin also said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell was part of a 'swamp fix' who became rich from their work in government. This month, five former prosecutors who worked on January 6, 2021, cases sent a letter urging the DC bar's legal disciplinary office to investigate Martin for his conduct, citing Martin's public statements in which he suggested investigating 'perceived political enemies of himself and the President.' Martin has a history of staking out hardline, socially conservative positions, including publicly advocating for a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest. He's even raised the idea of imposing criminal penalties on women and doctors involved in abortions, as CNN's KFile has previously reported. Prior to heading one of the nation's most powerful US attorney's offices, Martin had no prosecutorial experience. He has served as a defense attorney for a handful of January 6 rioters. During his four months as acting US attorney for Washington, DC, Martin has displayed his loyalty to Trump : He ordered a series of firings, demotions and reassignments of prosecutors working January 6 cases. He launched his own probes into Capitol riot prosecutions and the legality of Biden's twilight pardons, and he publicly promised Elon Musk that his office would investigate people threatening Musk and his government workers and 'chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable.' The New York Times reported earlier this month that Martin's office is pursuing an inquiry into Biden's pardons of his family members. Martin previously worked as the president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles – a socially conservative advocacy group named for the late anti-feminist activist. He was a leader in the 'Stop the Steal' movement that falsely claimed Trump won the 2020 presidential election. In comments from a December 2024 radio interview that Martin failed to disclose, Martin criticized Biden for pardoning his son Hunter Biden. 'If I was the US attorney in Washington, DC, on January 21, I would impanel a grand jury. And I would call Hunter Biden before the grand jury, who has to go without a lawyer, and he has to answer questions because now he has immunity from prosecution. So the protection under the Constitution of not incriminating yourself goes away if you're immune,' said Martin on 'The Stevie Jay Morning Show.' 'If he doesn't answer the questions or he lies, he goes to jail because that's a new crime. It's not covered by Biden as the pardon,' said Martin, adding that he would like to look at other Biden family members who received pardons, naming the former president's brother James. A week after the podcast episode aired, Martin was tapped to be the next chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget. But by January 20, Trump appointed him as the interim US attorney for Washington, DC. And in previously unreported comments Martin made on his podcast in August 2023, Martin said that the people involved in federal investigations into Trump should face criminal investigations and be 'charged under RICO,' which refers to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, most famously used to prosecute organized crime in the 1970s and 1980s. Martin has also repeated January 6 conspiracy theories that 'Antifa' was possibly behind the violence and about the pipe bombs found near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters that day, insisting that 'something stinks. Something stinks to high heaven.' Martin said in a March 2024 episode of his podcast that 'if the FBI really can't find out what happened,' it's because 'either the FBI is corrupt, which I'm not willing to say yet, or someone bigger than the FBI has made it.' He then baselessly speculated whether the military was involved in planting the pipe bombs. 'I remember someone told me afterwards that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the military, has a lot of special ops things going on. I don't know if that's true. I'm just saying something bigger than the FBI is needed to hide this. Because the FBI has the tools to find something like this,' Martin said. CNN's Kate Carroll and Winter Hawk contributed to this story.
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.
