Ed Martin is not a typical pick for a U.S. attorney.
President Trump’s choice to lead the federal office in D.C. has never been a prosecutor – making him the first person without that background to lead the office in over 50 years.
Already in the role on an interim basis, he’s sparked attention with his fiery X presence and a tenure that has already resulted in clashes with lawmakers and his own staff.
“He’s always just been a ball of fire. I’ve always known him to be tireless, hugely enthusiastic…and he’s a cause oriented guy. He’s mission driven,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who knows Martin through Missouri political circles.
“He’s never been an establishment guy – ever. He’s always been a disrupter, wherever he is.”
In just a few short weeks on the job, Martin has brought a fair amount of upheaval.
He’s sent letters to two lawmakers accusing them of threatening political figures. He’s pointed to his new role in claiming to be one of the president’s attorneys – flouting Justice Department credo to serve as the people’s lawyers.
He sparked alarm with public letters to Elon Musk threatening to use his prosecutorial platform to go after those who “even acted simply unethically.”
And he’s also overseen the firings and reassignments of prosecutors that worked on Jan. 6 cases. A veteran prosecutor leading the office’s criminal division resigned rather than carry out an order from Martin she felt was not backed by sufficient evidence. He also recently penned a letter to Georgetown University demanding they stop all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, threatening that he would otherwise stop hiring graduates from the school.
Martin’s now facing a trio of ethics complaints from different lawmakers, the latest sent this week by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) asking for an investigation by DOJ’s inspector general, saying that “in seven short weeks, the list of Mr. Martin’s constitutionally, legally and ethically indefensible actions have grown exponentially.”
Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have asked the D.C. bar to review Martin’s conduct.
“Just about everything he’s doing unquestionably violates the spirit and ethos of the Department of Justice, and in many cases I think violates the rules and procedures. He is overtly using the power of his office for purely political reasons,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who asked the Justice Department inspector general for an investigation into Martin’s continued representation of a Jan. 6 defendant as a U.S. Attorney.
Martin did not respond to The Hill’s requests to be interviewed for this story. The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment and did not respond to questions.
It doesn’t seem Trump initially thought of Martin for the job. He first announced Martin as chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget before shifting gears.
But once Martin was tapped as interim U.S. attorney, he wasted little time in pursuing the permanent role, auditioning on social media with zealous vows to go after purported enemies of the Trump administration and reform Washington. Trump formally nominated him to lead the D.C. office last month.
Martin appears to be ready to take on the title. In all the communications he’s posted on X, he refers to himself as a U.S. Attorney despite serving in the role on an interim basis.
He’s laid out a “Make D.C. Safe Again” plan that includes requiring bringing gun charges in federal court, which carries harsher penalties.
And he also penned an open letter to police to announce that he would prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any “thug” that assaults an officer. The same letter said he would “stand up” against public defenders or judges who “maligns our officers.”
A former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, Martin has been a presence in the state’s political circles for some time, launching repeated bids for political office while also hosting his own conservative talk radio show.
He got his start in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, working as director of its Human Rights Office. Justin Rigali, the archbishop of the city, wanted the office reined in so he selected Martin, who had become a friend, for the job, reported St. Louis Magazine in 2011, when Martin was running for U.S. Senate.
His presence there was not necessarily welcomed. Angie O’Gorman, an employee of the office, complained to archdiocesan officials that Martin had no experience in human rights work, St. Louis Magazine reported; Martin later fired her.
Catholicism has shaped much of Martin’s life, having attended Catholic high school and received his undergraduate degree from College of the Holy Cross, where he roomed with one of late Justice Antonin Scalia’s sons.
After that, he briefly lived in Rome studying philosophy at a private pontifical university, where he has said he grew a bond with Pope John Paul II.
A person close to Martin told The Hill that his faith is “more fundamental to him than his Republicanism,” informing his approach to “every breath he takes,” including in his work.
After several legal and political roles, Martin joined Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, a conservative advocacy group focused primarily on social issues named after the late conservative activist. Martin and Schlafly co-authored a book titled “The Conservative Case for Trump,” which was released a day after her 2016 death.
The group’s office sat across the street from St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, where the person close to Martin said the now-top prosecutor likely spent almost as much time in prayer as he did in the political office.
Martin’s LinkedIn indicates he worked for the group for more than a decade, starting as a special assistant to Schlafly and ascending to president of the group. His X account still dubs him “EagleEdMartin.”
In just a few weeks on the job as an interim U.S. attorney, Martin has operated differently from many of his predecessors.
He’s been quick to curry favor with Elon Musk, firing off photos of letters he’s drafted exclusively via the X web platform owned by the billionaire.
In those letters he vowed to go after those who “even acted simply unethically,” saying he would “chase them to the ends of the earth to hold them accountable” and added that “noone [sic] is above the law.”
It was a pledge that got Martin dragged on the platform for acting unethically, as the Justice Department manual instructs prosecutors to only pursue cases in which there is evidence of a crime.
Goldman called the letter “absurd.”
“You must have reasonable suspicion to believe a crime was committed in order to open an investigation, and the notion that he would be threatening to open a criminal investigation based on what he perceives to be unethical conduct is disallowed by the law. It’s also unethical,” he said.
Nonetheless, those letters to Musk appeared to serve as the basis for later correspondence to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asking about alleged “threats” they made against public officials. Martin’s investigation into Schumer for comments he made five years ago warning justices would “pay the price” in regards to an abortion case appears to have fallen by the wayside, according to reporting from The Washington Post.
Bruce Green, a legal ethics professor at Fordham University Law School, said that “all the problems” with Martin seem to stem from his belief that he is an attorney for Trump.
“He seems to think that his job is to do Donald Trump’s bidding and/or to promote his interests, including his political interests, and that’s wrong,” Green said.
“The basic problem is that he’s threatening to use the criminal justice power against people who were just on the other side of the political aisle and haven’t done anything.”
Garcia said he had yet to receive any additional letters from Martin and said he was unaware of the status of the investigation. But he criticized Martin for what he called an effort to intimate lawmakers.
“It’s important, I think, for us not to be discouraged to speak out and to speak out against Elon Musk and Donald Trump. And clearly, there are efforts to intimidate members of Congress and U.S. senators, and I think that’s dangerous for the country. I think we need to be able to speak out, and we have a right to be opposed to the administration, and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” he said.
Green said Speech and Debate Clause protections would likely shield lawmakers but he feared Martin’s pledge to Musk could have a chilling effect on agency staff who may be rightfully and lawfully blocking DOGE access to different department functions or data.
Green noted a speech from former Attorney General Robert Jackson, warning of prosecutors who “pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.”
“To me, Mr. Martin is basically indicating he’s going to use his power to get people,” Green said.. “And the people he’s going to get are the people who are in the other political party …that’s a thing that prosecutors do in totalitarian states.”
Martin’s Jan. 6 connections – both before and after taking on his new role – have also sparked alarm.
Martin flouted a subpoena by the now-disbanded Jan. 6 panel in relation to his role as a Stop the Steal organizer. He spoke at a rally the day before the riot and was on the Capitol grounds as the building was being stormed by Trump’s supporters. He never showed for his deposition or supplied requested documents.
And he also later represented at least three defendants who were charged in connection with storming the Capitol.
But that background has resulted in clashes in his new role.
Martin is facing requests for two different ethics investigations after he simultaneously was the attorney of record both for the Justice Department and a Jan. 6 defendant he represented, filing to dismiss his charges following Trump’s widespread pardons.
”It appears that he benefited one of his own clients after he was given this post in the US Attorney’s Office. That serious matter,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin has asked the D.C. bar to investigate Martin, citing an “impermissible conflict of interest.”
“I don’t do that very frequently, and there is a question about whether there is an ethical lapse there,” Durbin said.
Martin has since sidelined prosecutors that worked on Jan. 6 cases, demoting several to entry-level positions.
It’s not clear when Martin will come before the Senate for his confirmation hearing, as the chamber’s Judiciary Committee must still work its way through a series of Justice Department nominees before turning to the nation’s 94 U.S. Attorneys.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, recently sent his own letter to Martin asking for a series of assurances, including asking him to affirm criticism of Musk is protected free speech and whether the Justice Department would target anyone based on their political viewpoints.
“He’s not even pretending to be neutral, objective, fair and balanced,” Connolly said.
“But my hope would be that my colleagues in the Senate will go after his behavior, because the public needs to see it. They need to be exposed to what he’s been doing.”
