The prosecutor President Donald Trump appointed to an acting role near the top of the Department of Justice had a particularly rough first week at work, according to several emails leaked by his colleagues.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that Ed Martin, who is currently the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has had to contend with his coworkers leaking his emails, along with a disgruntled former prosecutor calling him out in interviews with the press. On Tuesday, Martin sent an email to DOJ personnel complaining that a Monday email he sent ordering an internal review of how federal prosecutors handled January 6 defendants' cases was leaked to the media.
“Wow, what a disappointment to have my email yesterday to you all was leaked almost immediately," Martin wrote on Tuesday. "Again, personally insulting and professionally unacceptable. I guess I have learned my lesson (‘Fool me once…’).”
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Martin was particularly upset about former DOJ prosecutor Ashley Akers, who resigned in response to Trump pardoning the approximately 1,500 people charged and/or convicted in connection with the insurrection. She told MSNBC and CNN that she had a "guttural reaction" to Trump's pardons, and called it "appalling" that Martin was "advocating on behalf of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers" by arguing to a federal judge that their travel restrictions should be lifted. Martin blasted Akers for "going on television and badmouthing our work (and me)" and told the DOJ that the agency needed to "make sure we have her records and emails."
“I have never met her so I find her comments disconnected from reality - not a credit to our office,” Martin wrote in the email. “She mentioned ‘fear’ (and used the word ‘guttural’) - I am not sure to what she is referring … I will be reaching out to her. Maybe she had issues with her supervisors or my predecessor. We will see if we can help her.”
Before joining the Trump DOJ, Martin was a longtime anti-abortion activist who eventually became chairman of the Missouri Republican Party. In 2020, NBC News reported that he was a prominent "Stop the Steal" activist who cheered on Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after, we still need to be in the fight," Martin said outside of the U.S. Capitol on January 5, 2021. "There’s no summer soldiers and springtime patriots here. There’s the die-hard true Americans. We start today, go through tomorrow and every day till we have a last breath and go home to the Lord because we will stop the steal.”
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