Former federal prosecutors are up in arms over the nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin, who is currently serving as interim U.S. attorney for the district, first drew controversy for backing Donald Trump's false claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election. He also sided with Jan. 6 defendants who attempted to interrupt the counting the Electoral College votes.
NBC News obtained a “Statement of Conscience and Principle" from more than 100 former assistant U.S. attorneys explaining why Martin is unfit to serve in his appointed capacity. The veterans, all from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, claim Martin “poses a threat to the full and fair administration of justice and the rule of law.” They urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject his nomination and “depart from its usual practice and hold a public hearing” on Martin’s nomination, complete with witness testimony, to educate members on his lack of fitness.
The attorneys, who claim to have worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations and serve “no political agenda, no party, and no individual” point out that Martin had no prosecutorial experience before Trump appointed him interim U.S. attorney on Inauguration Day. They also warn that they were "appalled" when learning about the highly unusual and political actions since assuming his office.
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“Neither a prosecutor nor judge, [Martin] was a political operative, to put it gently,” they write, adding that “much has been unearthed and written about his early shenanigans” pertaining to his refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and the illegality of Trump supporters who overran the Capitol.
The letter is more urgent about what Martin has more recently been up to as interim U.S. attorney, which they describe as behavior that typif[ies] authoritarian and … totalitarian regimes of the most notorious sort.”
“No United States Attorney,” they say, should “terminate Assistant United States Attorneys for prosecuting individuals who invaded the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.” Nor should they “investigate Assistant United States Attorneys for pursuing criminal charges … upheld … by more than a dozen United States District Judges.”
They also accuse him of tweeting or publicly commenting on matters under investigation or outside his purview and directly contact sitting members of Congress on matters protected by federal speech and debate clauses, while also “mistaking basic facts at issue.”
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Additionally, Martin has ordered the head of the office’s criminal division to open politically charged investigations, and even pushed for asset seizure “without any predication.” According to critics, Martin also has ignored “serious conflicts of interest by personally moving to dismiss a criminal case where he represented the defendant,” and has threatened to investigate a law firm whose lawyers provided pro bono services to a potential target without any basis in law or fact.”
These things, Martin did "with abandon and evident relish."
Even while in his “‘tryout’ phase, he has butchered the position, effectively destroying it as a vehicle by which to pursue justice and turning it into a political arm of the current administration," assistant U.S. attorneys claim.
Click here to read NBC's full report.
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