Nearly 100 former employees and prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., have signed a memo opposing President Trump’s nominee to lead the office.
The memo is the latest effort by critics of acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin to stop his Senate confirmation for the permanent role, which is among the most powerful federal prosecutor positions in the country. The letter was signed by a group of former prosecutors who served in the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office across seven decades, under administrations from Lyndon B. Johnson’s through Joe Biden’s.
The memo, a copy of which was shared with CBS News, called for the rejection fo Martin’s nomination.
“There is a time when we all are called to stand for the full and fair administration of justice and the rule of law,” the memo says. “For those of us who have served in the Office of the United States Attorney and still have a breath, that time is now. And the message we speak is, reject — outright and completely — the proposed nominee. Whether our message is futile or not, it is an expression of our conscience and a matter of principle that we deliver with all of the strength that we can muster.”
Martin began serving as interim U.S. attorney for D.C. hours after President Trump’s inauguration and was soon nominated for the Senate-confirmed post.
His nomination has been a flashpoint of controversy since the beginning of the Trump administration. Martin lacks any prosecutorial experience, served as an advocate in the “Stop the Steal” movement denying the 2020 election results, worked as a defense lawyer on Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases and fired some of the lawyers who prosecuted Jan. 6 defendants.
Senate Democrats have blasted Martin’s selection, with Sen. Adam Schiff, a first-term California Democrat, calling Martin unqualified and dangerous for the role of U.S. attorney. Schiff has placed a hold on Martin’s nomination, seeking to slow down the confirmation process.
Schiff and other Senate Democrats have also requested a confirmation hearing be held for Martin’s nomination, which — if approved — would be the first confirmation hearing for a U.S. attorney nominee in 40 years.
Some of the group of nearly 100 former assistant U.S. attorneys who are lobbying against Martin’s nomination told CBS News they know they must make inroads with Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.
Dan Toomey, who served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1968 to 1971 told CBS News the group of former prosecutors has yet to secure a meeting with Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
“We have talked to Sen. Grassley’s staff and we have also talked to Senator John Kennedy’s staff,” Toomey said. We had a half-hour meeting with them.”
Toomey acknowledged the Republican senators are likely the only firewall to stop Martin’s confirmation and said securing the backing of some of those senators is “really important and really our only hope.”
Charles Work, a former federal prosecutor who worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. in the 1970s and signed the memo opposing Martin, said the office is struggling under Martin’s interim leadership.
“The morale is gone,” Work said. “People are hiding from assignments. They don’t know what to do. They don’t know whether to resign.”
In their newly released memo, the former prosecutors argued, “(Martin’s) refusals to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and the illegality in the conduct of 1600 individuals who overran the police and the Capitol on January 6, 2021, causing physical harm to dozens and potentially irreparable damage to the institution of democratic governance are in and of themselves disqualifying. As well, these misbehaviors are cues to where the nominee will go if ceded the position of United States Attorney.”
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who would vote on Martin’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee, did not directly answer when he was asked Monday if he has any concerns about Martin’s nomination. Cornyn said, “His nomination is still pending in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, so we’ll be dealing with that soon, I imagine. But so far, he’s serving merely in an acting capacity, and we’ll deal with his nomination very soon.”
Scott MacFarlane is CBS News’ Justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.
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