Amateur hour at the U.S. Attorney’s Office

By Barbara McQuade

The interim U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia has never served as a prosecutor at any level.

And it shows.

Edward R. Martin, Jr., appointed by President Donald Trump two weeks ago, has wasted no time in his temporary post. At some point, Trump will nominate a permanent U.S. Attorney, who will require Senate confirmation, unlike Martin. The interim appointment expires in 120 days, giving Martin four months to take a sledgehammer to both the office and its reputation for justice.

Federal prosecutors are guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution, policies, and practices created in the post-Watergate era “to promote the reasoned exercise of prosecutorial discretion by attorneys for the government.” Among the most revered of these principles is the command that “attorneys for the government may not be influenced by” “political association, activities or beliefs.”

But Martin, whose background is in Republican party politics, seems undeterred by this guidance. Instead, he appears ready to do Trump’s bidding as a partisan actor. Martin has already dismissed hundreds of pending cases against defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and fired 30 prosecutors who worked on the cases. Before his appointment, Martin raised money for some of the Jan. 6 defendants and even represented some of them in court, an apparent conflict of interest that, under normal circumstances, would require his recusal as the prosecutor in these cases.

According to a prior Justice Department statement, nearly 60 percent of the dismissed cases included felony charges for assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. Judges who presided over the cases of the Jan. 6 attackers condemned the dismissals, with one calling the effort to cast the attackers as victims of injustice a “revisionist myth.” According to another judge, the dismissals “cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake.” In response to an online post supportive of the release of the Jan. 6 defendants, Martin expressed his zeal to free the attackers, stating, “I’m working. I promise. No man left behind.”

On Monday, Martin was at it again, this time using his position to assist Elon Musk in his work at the Department of Government Efficiency. In a highly unusual move, Martin posted to his own account on X a letter he sent to Musk. Martin’s X handle, @EagleEdMartin, reflects his prior role as leader of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a conservative activist group, yet Martin seems to be using the account for official statements, furthering the appearance of amateur hour at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Addressing Musk as “Elon,” Martin writes in his letter, “It was good to work with the DOGE team this weekend.” For a department committed to upholding the rule of law and operating without fear or favor, that statement alone suggests a lack of independence from the subject of an investigation. The letter goes on to note that some members of the DOGE team have been threatened online, and assures Musk “that we will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people.”

While prosecuting threats is certainly an appropriate exercise of a prosecutor’s authority, prosecutors typically address such matters through their court filings—they do not direct their correspondence to potential victims. They do not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. If the evidence supports a criminal charge, a prosecutor files a complaint or an indictment. And while a threat might be grounds for prosecution, “anyone who impedes” Musk’s work is not. This letter seems to be a shot across the bow to anyone who might speak out against Musk and his legally questionable activities to dismantle government agencies.

It is tempting to think of Martin as a harmless clown, but his considerable power as a federal prosecutor and his willingness to use it without regard to DOJ principles makes him the kind of clown that unleashes terror in a horror film.

Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, and author of the New York Times bestseller Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.