Trump Picks Jan. 6 Defender to Lead Agency That Investigated Insurrection

Ed Martin was part of the mob at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Now, he’s one of the top attorneys in the country, running the agency that successfully prosecuted over 1,500 insurrectionists. 

After his inauguration, President Donald Trump appointed Martin to be the Interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. until he permanently fills the role.

Martin earned his law degree in St. Louis, Missouri in 1998, and since then, he has run his own law practice, held senior roles at the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund — a right-wing legal group — and has been a central figure in the Missouri Republican Party and national GOP. 

He served as the chief of staff for former Missouri Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2010 and state attorney general in 2012, was elected chair of the Missouri GOP in 2013, served as a member of the Republican National Committee and co-authored a book in 2016 called The Conservative Case for Trump.

In 2021, Martin was one of the thousands of insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6. He posted on social media that day, saying it’s “Like Mardi Gras in DC today: love, faith and joy. Ignore #FakeNews.” Later that year, the U.S. House’s Jan. 6 Committee subpoenaed Martin, identifying him as an organizer of the Stop the Steal Movement formed after the 2020 election.

Now, four years later, he’s become head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Washington, D.C., a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

When he entered office, he launched an investigation into the DOJ’s Jan. 6 prosecutions using a specific obstruction of justice charge, asking employees to retain records related to those cases. Martin also disbanded the DOJ’s Capitol Siege Section and moved to dismiss cases against those who attacked police officers Jan. 6.

After that, he fired numerous prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, following a Jan. 31 directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and former member of the House’s Jan. 6 Committee, sent a letter last week to Martin, criticizing the firings. 

“In firing these [attorneys], your office has lost prosecutors who, collectively, had decades of experience as local and state prosecutors and litigators in the country’s top law firms, including military veterans and graduates of our nation’s best law schools,” Raskin wrote. “All of this was done to appease a president who now apparently believes that the law does not apply to pro-Trump rioters who engage in seditious conspiracy and smash police officers in the face.”

Raskin also condemned Martin for “regularly visiting the White House,” which “violates decades-old safeguards developed to preserve the DOJ’s independence.” 

He added that since entering office, Martin personally communicated with “individuals charged and convicted of criminal offenses related to the January 6th insurrection, as well as their attorneys, regarding ongoing matters.”

Less than a week later, Martin threatened those who have opposed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with gutting and cutting government agencies. 

The department is currently facing numerous lawsuits for attempting to access sensitive data and information from the Education, Treasury and Labor departments.

Martin issued a statement Feb. 3 alleging that “certain individuals and/or groups have committed acts that appear to violate the law in targeting DOGE employees.” He added that his office is “in contact with FBI and other law enforcement partners to proceed rapidly,” and has its “prosecutors preparing.”

Also, in a post on X, he shared a Jan. 7 letter addressed to Musk, thanking him for referring individuals and groups “who appear to be stealing government property and/or threatening government employees.”

Martin also said in the letter, “if people are discovered to have broken the law or even acted simply unethically, we will investigate them and chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable.”