Ed Martin, controversial pardon attorney at DOJ, leaving Trump administration
Washington — Ed Martin, the pro-Trump lawyer who has been at the center of several controversies during his time at the Justice Department, is departing the Trump administration, the president announced in a post on Truth Social Friday afternoon.
Martin previously served as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia during a tenure that was marked by turmoil. He later served as the head of then-Attorney General Pam Bondi's "Weaponization Working Group" and has most recently served as pardon attorney, an advisory position in the department that involves reviewing clemency applications and making recommendations.
Martin was President Trump's first pick to be the top federal prosecutor in D.C., but he failed to garner enough support from the Republican-controlled Senate to win permanent confirmation. Senators took issue with his advocacy on behalf of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Ed Martin has been with me from the very beginning, and done an incredible job as an Attorney, Director of the Weaponization Working Group, and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia," Mr. Trump wrote, adding he is "leaving to go outside to fight Legal Battles for the upcoming Midterm Election, and the Presidential Election of 2028."
Under Martin's watch as interim U.S. attorney, more than a dozen probationary federal prosecutors who had handled investigations into the Jan. 6 attack were fired. Martin, who was involved with the "Stop the Steal" movement in the wake of Mr. Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, also ordered prosecutors to launch an internal inquiry into how they decided to charge some Jan. 6 defendants with felony obstruction charges.
The top criminal chief in his office resigned after alleging he had pressured her to launch a criminal investigation and freeze assets belonging to a grant awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency during the Biden administration — even though there was no evidence of a crime.
Later, he also demoted a number of prosecutors in the office to entry-level roles, angering staff and helping to spark a mass exodus of career prosecutors from the office.
Martin made waves by frequently announcing the targets of his investigations on social media, in violation of the Justice Department's manual governing the rules for prosecutors.
Career lawyers blocked him from opening a criminal investigation into Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer over political comments he made in 2020 in which Schumer said that several conservative Supreme Court justices would "pay the price" over actions that scaled back abortion rights, sources said.
His targeting of Georgetown University Law Center later earned him an ethics complaint by D.C.'s Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Martin threatened to cease hiring the school's graduates if it did not abandon its policies on diversity, equity and inclusion.
He was also separately deputized as a special assistant U.S. attorney and tasked with helping lead mortgage-related investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, sources familiar with the probes told CBS News.
That role, however, landed him in hot water after he publicly posted photos of himself wearing a brown trenchcoat outside of James' brownstone in Brooklyn, a move that angered senior department leadership and ultimately contributed to his removal from overseeing the Weaponization Working Group, sources previously told CBS News.
He also faced criticism from officials in the deputy attorney general's office under Todd Blanche for what they saw as a lack of productivity on the Weaponization Working Group, sources previously said.
In emails obtained by a government watchdog that were later shared with the New York Times, Blanche bristled in one exchange with Martin, telling him "I am frustrated." In another email, Blanche scolded him for publicly discussing details of a non-public investigation, writing: "This is becoming a real problem, Ed."
The cases against Cook and Schiff have thus far not materialized. In James' case, a federal judge dismissed an indictment against her related to mortgage fraud on the grounds that the interim U.S. attorney who secured her indictment was unlawfully appointed to that role. The DOJ has appealed that ruling.
CBS News has reached out to Martin for comment about his departure from the administration.
An official close to Martin told CBS News on Friday that Martin and Blanche have since mended their relationship.
In a post on X, Blanche called Martin a "patriot who loves this nation."
In recent days, the source close to Martin said that Blanche personally assigned him to help promote the Justice Department's new initiative to allow some people who are prohibited from possessing firearms, such as convicted felons, to petition to have their rights restored.
The Justice Department has also since filed a statement of interest in support of Martin in the ongoing ethics case against him in D.C.
A CBS News reporter also observed Martin at the Justice Department applauding for Blanche, after the newly confirmed attorney general addressed department staff in a large gathering for the first time earlier this month.
