Donald Trump’s once-beloved pick for top D.C. prosecutor announced he’s being investigated after his nomination was pulled.
Ed Martin—a conservative activist who defended Jan. 6 rioters and supported the conspiracy that the 2020 election was stolen—said in an office-wide goodbye email that he is under investigation for ethics violations and accused the investigator of violating his confidentiality, The Washington Post reported.
Martin was originally Trump’s top pick for D.C. prosecutor, but the president pulled Martin from the running after getting pushback from lawmakers, saying he “wasn’t getting the support from people.” He has since nominated Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for the role.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel investigates and prosecutes complaints of ethical misconduct. In his email to agency staff, Martin did not explain why the office is investigating him. Democrats have alleged in complaints to the office’s chief, Hamilton Fox, that Martin hushed perceived adversaries by threatening them with prosecution, the Post reported.
Martin claims that Fox himself should instead be investigated for weaponizing the case and said Fox’s office should not have emailed the complaint to the general intake address of the civil division of the D.C. attorney’s office.
“It appears that he wanted people to know about this complaint,” Martin wrote in the email, the Post reported. “Why else would email it to Intake Email Box of the United States Attorney’s Office’s Civil Division when he already had my work and personal email accounts?”
The office’s policy holds, however, that if lawyers under investigation do not respond to the first email they receive by a certain deadline, a second notice is sent to other known addresses on file. Letters are marked “CONFIDENTIAL.”
Members of his staff said they did not understand the objection. “His complaint was that it was confidential, but then he reveals it to the whole office?” one told the Post. “It’s not like any of us knew about it.”
Martin has asked the court that oversees the counsel’s office to dismiss the investigation. Fox declined to comment to The Post.
Democratic lawmakers have long slammed Martin for abusing his power and intimidating those who speak out against the president.
In a February message to Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, Martin defended himself, saying, “Please let me reiterate again: if people are discovered to have broken the law or even acted simply unethically, we will investigate them and we will chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable.”
Many Democrats have sought to suspend Martin’s law license. After his nomination was pulled, Trump shifted Martin to the Justice Department as associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney, where he’ll lead a task force investigating the “weaponization” of the DOJ against the president’s supporters during the Biden administration.
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