Raskin asks for DOJ probe into acting US Attorney Ed Martin
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is asking the Justice Department’s (DOJ) inspector general to launch an investigation into Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in D.C.
“In seven short weeks, the list of Mr. Martin’s constitutionally, legally and ethically indefensible actions have grown exponentially,” Raskin wrote.
“As the head of the office, Mr. Martin has a responsibility to enforce the laws faithfully and impartially. But so far, public reporting has indicated that he has failed to adhere to these high ethical standards and may have violated DOJ’s own regulations, federal statutes, and the Constitution.”
Martin, who has been nominated to serve as the U.S. attorney, did not respond to request for comment.
The nine-page letter from Raskin details a series of actions taken by Martin.
“Mr. Martin has repeatedly used the powers of his office to protect President Trump’s political allies. Recently, Mr. Martin referred to the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office as ‘President Trump’s lawyers’ and said they were ‘proud to fight to protect his leadership.’”
As part of that effort, Martin pledged to go after those who posed resistance to Elon Musk and officials from the Department of Government Efficiency, including saying he would take action against those who “even acted simply unethically.”
Martin sent two letters to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asking him to explain comments from more than four years ago about Republicans being set to face a “whirlwind” of pushback over a then-Supreme Court case that would limit abortion. That comment appears to have inspired Martin’s name for the probe — Operation Whirlwind.
A letter to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) from Martin came after the lawmaker held up a photo of tech billionaire Elon Musk during a hearing and called it a “d‑‑‑ pic,” — a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) previously showing a lewd photo of Hunter Biden.
Raskin also raised concerns over Martin’s dual representation of Joseph Padilla, a Jan. 6 defendant he represented, dismissing his client's case while serving as the attorney of record for both parties.
“Mr. Martin, in his official capacity and while still listed as Mr. Padilla’s attorney on record, promptly filed a motion to dismiss Mr. Padilla’s case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Martin did not formally withdraw from his role as Mr. Padilla’s defense counsel until February 5, 2025, two weeks later,” he wrote.
“Beyond this extraordinary action as a lawyer for both the government and its criminal defendant, Mr. Martin also failed to recuse himself generally from participation in January 6th cases.”
Martin has also overseen the firings and reassignments of prosecutors that worked on Jan. 6 cases.
Raskin also addressed the resignation of Denise Cheung, a top prosecutor in the office who resigned after she was asked to rescind $20 billion in government grant funding in a case she was concerned there was not sufficient evidence.
“In his zeal to implement President Trump’s policy priorities to dismantle and defund clean energy projects, Mr. Martin demanded that prosecutors in his office launch a bogus investigation and improperly freeze funds,” Raskin wrote.
“In an effort to claw back $20 billion in grants awarded for clean-energy projects awarded under the GGRF, Mr. Martin demanded that the criminal division chief in his office, Denise Cheung, launch a criminal investigation and freeze a contractor’s unspent assets without any probable cause of violation.”
Raskin noted that Martin later submitted the warrant request himself but was turned down by a judge who found he failed to demonstrate a reasonable belief a crime had occurred.
This story was updated at 4:23 p.m.
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