Busted: Embatteled Trump pick told 'Church of the AR-15' that US institutions must fall
08 May
Ed Martin, then a "Stop the Steal" organizer, addresses Rod of Iron members at the Supreme Court on Dec. 9, 2020.
Ed Martin, Donald Trump’s embattled pick for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, once told an AR-15-toting fringe religious group that institutions preventing Trump from overturning the 2020 election would fall like Jericho, according to footage reviewed by Raw Story but now seemingly removed from the internet by the group concerned.
“We’re gonna have Jericho March, Jericho March all around,” Martin said, alluding to the Biblical story of how Joshua led the Israelite army to attack the city of Jericho and slaughter its inhabitants.
“And if these principalities won’t yield to the truth and the Constitution, we know what happened in Jericho.”
Martin was then a Missouri Republican activist best known for leading Eagle Forum, a group formed by the arch-conservative Phyllis Schlafly.
He spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 9, 2020, less than a month before Congress would convene a joint session to certify the electoral votes for the next president.
On Jan. 6 2021, when Congress convened, a mob of supporters who Trump told to “fight like hell” in his cause stormed the Capitol building. The attack failed to overturn Joe Biden’s election win but is now linked to nine deaths. In January, after Trump returned to power, he issued pardons and commutations for about 1,500 people in relation to the attack.
After being named top prosecutor for D.C. in an acting capacity, Martin personally dismissed charges against Jan. 6 defendants still awaiting trial.
Now, though, Martin’s chances of being confirmed in a permanent capacity appear to be foundering, amid concerns about his connections to the Capitol attack and his role in the “Stop the Steal” movement that fueled it.
‘We speak His truth’
Amid a frenzy of reporting on Martin's chances of confirmation, Martin’s speech outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 9 has been little remarked. But it reveals a startling moment.
Martin spoke to Rod of Iron Ministries, a breakaway sect from the Unification Church that worships with AR-15 rifles and is led by Pastor Sean Moon, son of the late Sun Myung Moon, who is revered by followers as the second coming of Christ.
On Jan. 6, Sean Moon would lead followers to the Capitol. Later, in an Instagram post, Moon celebrated rioters who he said “took dominion of the Satanic temple,” while sending “the most powerful people on the planet scurrying away, like rats, in total fear, total panic, in tunnels.”
On Dec. 9, Martin approached the group, which was preparing to rally in support of Trump. Dressed in a tan overcoat, he asked if he could borrow their microphone.
Introducing himself as “one of the founders of Stop the Steal,” Martin sought to encourage Moon and his followers to not get too hung up on whether Trump’s effort to overturn the election got snagged at the Supreme Court, and to keep fighting regardless.
Speaking with religious fervor, Martin entwined a vision of a Christian nation with unstinting loyalty to Trump.
“We are a republic founded on a Constitution and the rule of law,” Martin said. “But the Constitution and the rule of law mean nothing if you do not have the Judeo-Christian values that underlie it.
“Every one of us has turned to repent to the Lord; our nation has too. But we also turn to our fellow man, and say, ‘Do your job.’”
“Do your job! Do your job!” Rod of Iron members chanted.
The “fake news,” Martin warned, would say the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to hear challenges to the election would determine the winner. Not true, claimed Martin: “We all know at the end of today, the winner’s Jesus Christ almighty God.”
Trust the lawyers to fight the legal battles, Martin said, adding that the Rod of Iron members should stay focused on a greater truth.
“We speak His truth,” Martin said, “and then we bring our truth down here. And we have to be — like the old days — evangelizers of the truth, in the country, in this nation, because there’s too much at stake for us to turn away now. So, here’s the thing: Be encouraged. Be strengthened. Be fortified. And pray. But be ready to keep fighting.”
Martin then invited the Rod of Iron members to come back to the Supreme Court in three days for a “Jericho March,” alluding to the grisly fate of that city.
Video of Martin’s speech was filmed by Kyle Yoder, a supporter of Sean Moon, and posted on a YouTube channel named “Kingdom Generation” under the title “The Second King in front of the US Supreme Court,” an apparent reference to Moon.
Raw Story reviewed, transcribed and took screenshots of the video in July 2021. The video now appears to have been taken down.
On Dec. 12, 2020, a “Jericho March” went ahead. One of the speakers was Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act or face a “much more desperate, much more bloody war.”
After the Capitol attack, Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. He was released in January after receiving a commutation from Trump.
Martin was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was not charged. As an attorney, he represented some Jan. 6 defendants and became a fixture on conservative outlets that sought to recast the rioters as patriots duped by either “antifa” — leftwing groups — or the FBI.
In one 2024 podcast, Martin said he supported pardons even for defendants who were violent on Jan. 6, reasoning that “this whole thing was such a setup that, while I would never condone hitting a cop, the people that were put in a position and charged with that were put in a position.
“It’s not entrapment — it’s much more sophisticated than entrapment. It’s much more like an incitement on behalf of the entire system to get a result, and then to name it [insurrection]. And so I’m for pardoning all the people that were related to January 6, because I think it was such an egregious thing.”
‘No tolerance for anybody who entered the building’
After Trump’s return to power, Martin’s nomination as U.S. attorney for D.C. seemed set to succeed.
But Martin’s comments on Jan. 6 appear to have become a dealbreaker for some Republicans. While U.S. attorney appointments typically move through the Senate to confirmation without controversy, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, hasn’t scheduled a vote on Martin’s nomination.
In a more worrying sign for Martin, at the Capitol on Tuesday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a key swing vote, told ABC News that after meeting with Martin, he could not support him.
“I think anybody who breached the perimeter should have been in prison for some time,” Tillis said, of those who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6. “Whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January 6, and that’s probably where most of the friction was.”
When Trump was impeached for inciting the Capitol attack, Tillis voted to acquit, though he said Trump’s “words and actions were reckless and he shares responsibility for the disgrace that occurred on Jan. 6.”
Since Trump’s return to power, Tillis has expressed opposition to Jan. 6 pardons. But he must walk a political tightrope, towards a reelection bid in North Carolina that is expected to be among the closest contests next year. Angering Trump would put him at risk of a primary defeat.
Trump has spoken to senators. Nonetheless, on Tuesday, majority leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters he thought Tillis’s opposition would leave Martin’s nomination stuck in committee, and thus doomed. ABC said Tillis could still vote to advance Martin’s nomination to the full Senate, just without his support.
Raw Story requested comment from Martin, via the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He did not respond.
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