Good Riddance to Ed Martin, Trump's Failed Pick for U.S. Attorney for D.C.
Martin is a bully and a menace to free speech. Unfortunately for him, his own free speech caught up with him.
President Donald Trump told reporters today that he is dropping the nomination of Ed Martin to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia because of slipping Republican support for Martin in the Senate.
"He's a terrific person, and he wasn't getting the support from people that I thought," Trump said at the White House.
The news should be welcomed by free speech advocates or really anyone who dislikes bullies. Martin was a menace to the First Amendment and a loyalist who put his adoration of the president above his oath to the Constitution.
Doubts over Martin's nomination began to accumulate as news investigations uncovered his frequent appearances on far-right podcasts and Russian-backed media, which he had failed to disclose to the Senate.
Trump appointed Martin as the acting U.S. Attorney for the D.C. in January. It's one of the more powerful federal prosecutor offices in the country, both because of its political proximity and because it handles D.C.'s felony caseload.
Martin, a Missouri Republican, was an organizer and fundraiser for the 2020 "Stop the Steal" movement and later represented defendants charged with participating in the January 6 Capitol riot. It was quickly apparent that Martin was out of his depth as a U.S. attorney and wrapped in conflicts of interest. In one instance, he asked a court to dismiss the cases of a January 6 defendant whom he had previously represented.
But once in office, Martin made himself useful as an attack dog for the president's agenda. He began using his new official letterhead to pen threatening and legally dubious letters to various enemies of the Trump administration.
One of his first official acts was to threaten several Democratic lawmakers with criminal investigations for statements opposing Trump that were, while heated, protected speech under the First Amendment.
Martin also spent his time writing sycophantic letters to Elon Musk and threatening social media users for posting the names of employees of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In April, Martin sent a letter to the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, accusing the website of spreading foreign propaganda and suggesting its 501(c)(3) status was in jeopardy.
Martin announced in a March letter to local law enforcement, as part of his "Make DC Safe Again" initiative, his office "would stand up in court against the 'public defender service' and anyone who maligns our officers for sport or advantage unfairly."
Martin said he would rewrite the office's policy of disclosing misconduct by police officers to defense attorneys. Prosecutors are required to disclose exculpatory material to defense lawyers, including officers' misconduct and disciplinary history. Prosecutor offices usually maintain a list of officers with significant credibility problems. However, Martin wrote that the office "will no longer allow judges or others to gratuitously damage your careers because of the outsized impact of inexact characterizations." Martin wants criminal defendants to know less about the credibility of police officers testifying against them.
In another bizarre social media post, Martin promised to support the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, although it's unclear what role a U.S. attorney would have in cartographical disputes.
"As President Trumps' [sic] lawyers, we are proud to fight to protect his leadership as our President and we are vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first," Martin wrote.
Of course, Martin is not Trump's lawyer. Unlike Trump's private lawyers, he gets paid—by taxpayers.
But it was Martin's comments about January 6 defendants, and his poor attempts to hide those comments, that ultimately sunk his nomination. For example, Martin apologized in April for praising a pardoned January 6 defendant who was an avowed Nazi and photographed himself posing as Hitler. Martin said he wasn't aware of the man's ideology. However, The Washington Post reported that Martin defended the man in videos and podcasts as late as 2023, describing him as a friend who had been smeared by allegations of antisemitism.
CNN revealed over 200 media appearances that Martin had failed to disclose to the Senate, including appearances with white nationalists. In written responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, Martin claimed under oath he couldn't recall if he'd ever made statements denigrating the service of a police officer who was injured on January 6. (He did several times.)
"I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on Jan. 6," Sen. Thom Tillis (R–N.C.) told reporters on Tuesday, explaining why he would not support Martin's nomination.
The job of a defense lawyer is to provide a zealous defense for their client, but Martin made it clear that his advocacy was personal and political, and that those concerns took precedence over any professional or ethical duties.
Unfortunately, Martin isn't going anywhere for the meantime. He's still the interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., and Trump told reporters that he'd like to keep him around.
"Ed is unbelievable, and hopefully we can bring him into, whether it's DOJ or whatever, in some capacity," Trump said.
