Trump DOJ called to remove official accused of 'trying to threaten' a prosecutor
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance blasted a top Justice Department official aligned with Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying his recent stunts made him look “more like a teenager creating content for social media than a federal prosecutor.”
That official is Edward Martin, who Trump nominated to become the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., a nomination that was ultimately withdrawn after it became clear he did not have sufficient support among Senate Republicans, largely over Martin’s lack of experience as a prosecutor. Instead, Trump installed him as DOJ Pardon Attorney, where Martin has been tasked with pursuing Trump’s political enemies under the banner of fighting so-called “weaponization” of the DOJ.
Now, Martin has wielded his new role as a “provocateur,” Joyce argued, staging stunts for social media and intimidating public officials in a manner she described as “amateur hour.”
“It’s not your grandma’s Justice Department,” Joyce wrote. “And it’s not one I recognize. It’s long overdue for DOJ leadership to discipline or remove Martin from his position for this behavior.”
Martin’s latest stunt saw him pose for photos outside the home of New York Attorney General Tish James, who in her capacity as AG, led a successful lawsuit against Trump for fraud that saw the president slapped with a fine of more than $355 million.
“He stopped to pose for photos curbside, looking more like a teenager creating content for social media than a federal prosecutor,” Joyce wrote.
“The Justice Department isn’t a tool for a president to deploy against his personal and political enemies. But if you’re Ed Martin and want the press to cover your work before any indictment decisions or grand jury review, that’s exactly what you do. It’s amateur hour at the Justice Department.”
Another recent incident of Martin’s saw the DOJ official send a letter to James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, in an effort to pressure the New York AG to resign, a letter that Martin pleaded with Lowell not to leak. Lowell almost immediately published the letter.
“He insults Lowell and then begs him to keep the letter – a letter the government has written to his client – ‘confidential,’” Joyce wrote.
“He says it would be a ‘leak’ to make it public, which most certainly isn’t the case. Letters like this aren’t confidential government documents. It’s a public one. Martin has now moved on from mugging to the camera to trying to threaten a public official into resigning after publicizing that he was investigating her.”