A Christian Nationalist and staunch defender of January 6th convicts, Ed Martin has already threatened prosecutions of anyone interfering with DOGE (such as those who refused to vacate the Institute of Peace building) and believes all abortions should be criminally prosecuted – including the use of mifepristone. (Martin has also opposed exceptions for abortions to save the life of the mother, calling it “an absolute scientific fact that no abortion is ever performed to save the life of the mother. None, zero, zilch.”) Martin isn’t shy of political opinions even as he falls woefully short on experience: he has never been a criminal prosecutor before. How is he doing so far? He really likes his big office.
Ed Martin has a significant oversight function on DC. He is in charge of all felony prosecutions within the district and is signaling that he would like to take over felony juvenile crime as well. He determines priorities within his office and decides how resources for criminal prosecution will be spent. He has the discretion to charge crimes under state or federal codes thereby determining how strict punishments will be. He has the discretion to dismiss charges such as those filed against Republican Representative Cory Mills for domestic battery. He oversees the direction of the MPD.
In the first 30 days of being in office, he has dismissed 100s of January 6th cases and demoted several senior attorneys who worked on the cases. He has been an integral part of having Officers Terrance Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky pardoned for their conviction of negligent homicide and covering up a felony (both of whom have been reinstated to active duty), he has been active on X. He has vowed to get tough on thugs who have guns and wants to prosecute 16 and 17 year olds as adults.
He has claimed to be “President Trumps’ lawyers” in a Feb. 24 post to X and days before, Martin also highlighted a social media post asking “Where does it say in the Constitution that the Department of Justice is independent from POTUS?”
“Hear me loud and clear: we will stand with the Blue against the thugs and scum who terrorize DC,” Martin posted to X at the time. “Today, I spoke with the MPD chief of police 3 times about protecting the Blue. Under Biden, they chose politics over police. I choose police.” (See Ed’s Trump Support, Jan 6th rioters).
Ed’s Legal Background
Ed has a law degree from the University of St. Louis, Missouri but has never practiced in a court room or been involved with criminal or civil law. He has spent the majority of his time running ultra-conservative political organizations such as the Eagle Forum which was originally founded as “Stop ERA” (Equal Rights Amendment advocating for women’s equality). Ed Martin’s current Substack has a Facebook link to the Eagle Forum.
Eagle Forum successfully led the ten-year battle to defeat the misnamed Equal Rights Amendment with its hidden agenda of same-sex marriages and tax-funded abortions. Eagle Forum is against amnesty and work visas, immigration, and teaching of Critical Race theory. Eagle Forum is for the traditional roles of a nuclear family.
See Eagle Forum’s Agenda Here
After graduating from law school, he spent a few years in private practice and then became chief of staff to Missouri Governor Roy Blunt. That role lasted for under two years after the lawyer became embroiled in a power struggle with Blunt’s deputy counsel, Scott Eckersley, over allegations that he was mishandling emails and disregarding the state’s Sunshine law open records requirement. In the end, Martin resigned, allegedly at Blunt’s request, although a subsequent state settlement found no evidence of wrongdoing. (See Washington Examiner 3/9/25) “There was not a guiding set of principles behind anything Ed Martin pursued, because it became apparent he would lie, cheat, and steal, and destroy me and others to try to get away with an obvious illegality with erasing those public records,” the staff lawyer, Scott Eckersley, told The Post this week. He called Martin “a dangerous man who is really governed by emotion and by whatever he wants in that moment.” (See Washington Post, 1/31/25)
As reported by the Washington Post, Martin is the first U.S. attorney for D.C. in at least 50 years not to have served as a judge or federal prosecutor, posing what former U.S. officials said is an extraordinary challenge as he oversees roughly 360 prosecutors responsible for investigating current and former members of Congress and the executive branch, prosecuting key national security and international crimes, and enforcing all D.C. felony laws. (See Washington Post, 1/31/25)
Ed’s Trump Support
Martin was involved in the Stop the Steal movement, advocating for Mike Flynn to be pardoned so he could attend more January 6th rallies. He was an outspoken advocate for Jan 6th rioter’s patriotic acts.
He advocated strongly for the Jan 6th defendants stating, “I’ve never seen anything so unfair in terms of … how these people are characterized, you know, insurrectionists and felonious, all this stuff,” he added. “If you were burning courthouses, but you’re Black Lives Matter. You’re skating. In fact, a lot of you get paid — there’s settlements to get paid for the people that were protesting. But if you were there on January 6… if you just walked through the wrong area, that’s considered participating, and we’re going to come get you.” (See Washington Examiner 3/9/25)
He claimed that leftists in antifa were responsible for the violence that day. And he decried the “Capitol insurrection hoax,” claiming that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi had engineered it. “They talk about ‘Police officers wounded,’” he said, describing media coverage of the attack. “I think the word is injured. I’m not sure people were wounded. Maybe, but it sounds like, again, we’re being spun.” “The more we find out about how staged and managed this was, the more we have to have less judgment for somebody who hits a cop,” Martin said in a March 5, 2024 appearance on Michael Savage’s “Savage Nation” podcast, “especially when we’ve seen they’re firing tear gas into the crowd before it was operationally appropriate.”
Last year, he said that state and federal prosecutors who had separately charged Mr. Trump had secretly coordinated in what might be an illegal conspiracy. And he posed for a photo with a top Trump ally who has pushed for retribution in a social media post with a caption reading, “Justice is coming.”
Controversial Moves
In an extraordinary letter sent to the dean of Georgetown law school, the recently appointed interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, said he was investigating the academic institution after it had come to his “attention reliably” that they were teaching and promoting DEI.
“This is unacceptable,” wrote Martin, in a letter re-sent this week after the original sent in February was misaddressed, according to the Washington Post.
“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.”
See Georgetown’s response here.
Lakhani, Nina (2025, March 6). US Attorney tells Georgetown law he won’t hire from any school with DEI The Guardian.
Ed Martin sent letters to Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Robert Garcia asking them to cooperate with his office for public statements they made on the Supreme Court and Elon Musk respectively. “We take threats against public officials very seriously. I look forward to your cooperation.”
Lancaster, Joe (2025, Feb 25). D.C.’s U.S. Attorney Is a Menace to the First Amendment Reason
Affect on DC
While we never know what the future may hold, we do know that the past informs the present. We know that Ed Martin is willing to carry water for the administration and is not afraid to use the power of his office for political capital. Because prosecutors have wide discretion and the US Attorney’s office oversees hundreds of attorneys and has a wide breadth of civil and criminal cases, it is likely the decisions made in that office will be based on Martin’s political standing.
His unwavering allegiance to Christian Nationalism and the current administration makes us all at risk that he will use the power of the state to follow a right-wing political agenda, whether that is prosecuting criminals, responding to protestors, or enforcing abortion regulations potentially passed by Congress affecting DC.
We are at risk.
Ed Martin can serve as acting US Attorney until July 20, 2025 before he must be confirmed.
