A Department of Justice review found that one of Donald Trump’s favored attorneys improperly mishandled grand jury materials related to investigations into the president’s political foes, according to a report.
Ed Martin, who has been working inside the Trump Justice Department for nine months after failing to secure Senate confirmation as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., allegedly shared materials connected to a disputed mortgage fraud case involving Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff.
Martin initially denied sharing secret grand jury materials with an unauthorized person, but his alleged misconduct was uncovered through emails surfaced during a probe led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, CNN reported.
An unnamed source told the network that an additional allegation against Martin was also identified during the review, giving Blanche further grounds to push him out of the department.
Over the past several months, Martin worked at the Justice Department advancing Trump’s agenda, including serving as a pardon attorney and as head of the Weaponization Working Group. The group was set up by Trump’s attorney general to review officials who were involved in investigations against him.
Martin was removed from the weaponization group on the first day of 2026 and shifted out of DOJ headquarters to a separate building miles away to continue his work as a pardon attorney. He is expected to fully leave the DOJ in the coming weeks.
Martin was also among those who spearheaded the probe into former FBI Director James Comey. That investigation was later dismissed by a judge after it was determined that the Trump-appointed prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed. A separate case against New York Attorney General Letitia James—who prosecuted Trump in an earlier civil case—was also dismissed.
The internal DOJ review was launched to determine whether grand jury material gathered during mortgage fraud inquiries into Schiff and James had been improperly shared with unauthorized individuals, CNN reported.
The findings were among the reasons Martin was pushed out of DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, as well as being removed from his role within the Weaponization Working Group.
Martin, an attorney who represented Jan. 6 rioters and promoted Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, has not been charged with a crime, and the DOJ has not concluded that any laws were broken.
In a statement to CNN, Blanche said there are “no misconduct investigations into Ed Martin,” adding that “Ed is doing a great job as Pardon Attorney.”
Blanche’s office did not confirm whether a formal review of Martin’s handling of grand jury material took place.
“President Trump ordered Ed Martin to fight weaponization wherever it’s found,” a person close to Martin told CNN. “As a member of the Deputy Attorney General’s staff, Ed handled hundreds of cases and matters directed by the DAG. Ed, his co-chair Colin McDonald, and the members of the Weaponization Working Group followed DOJ standards and procedures at all times.”
Trump withdrew Martin’s nomination to serve as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., in May 2025 after he failed to secure sufficient support in the Senate.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
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