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Top House Judiciary Democrat seeks probe of US attorney Ed Martin

By Spencer S. Hsu and Perry Stein, The Washington Post

March 13, 2025, 3:20 pm CDT

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) is calling for the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., accusing controversial prosecutor Ed Martin of violating the law and repeatedly ignoring legal ethics as he seeks to root out people he perceives as undermining President Donald Trump’s agenda.

In a letter Wednesday to the inspector general obtained by The Washington Post, Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Martin has violated the First Amendment by threatening to investigate and prosecute Congress members, protesters, journalists and others who have criticized Trump.

The representative also accused Martin in his letter of illegally attempting to freeze the bank accounts of nonprofit organizations that received Biden-era grants for climate and clean energy projects.

The letter is the latest example of Democrats, advocacy groups and former prosecutors criticizing Martin as they attempt to bring attention ahead of his potential Senate confirmation vote this spring to what they believe should disqualify him from permanently running the prominent U.S. attorney’s office.

“Since taking office, Mr. Martin has used his office to illegally attack critics and perceived enemies of the Trump Administration while endangering the public safety of the citizens of and visitors to our nation’s capital,” Raskin wrote in the letter to Michael Horowitz, the inspector general. “Mr. Martin has already fired over a dozen career federal prosecutors assigned to prosecuting violent crimes in Washington, D.C., simply because they had worked on the investigations of the massive lawless attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

The Office of the Inspector General is an independent watchdog within the Justice Department tasked with investigating waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct. Seven former Justice Department officials who now serve in Congress have already asked Horowitz to investigate Martin.

If Horowitz acts, it could take months—or even years—to finish the investigation. The inspector general would then submit a report of his findings to the attorney general and provide any recommendations, which could include suggesting criminal charges.

Horowitz, who has been the Justice Department’s inspector general since 2012, is one of the few inspectors general of federal agencies that Trump did not fire when he took office.

Horowitz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also on Thursday, nearly 100 former federal prosecutors from the office Martin now leads called for the Senate to reject his nomination, asserting in an open letter that he is unfit to serve after turning the office “into a political arm” of the Trump administration. They accuse him of appearing to back billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s calls on social media in February to impeach federal judges who rule against the president’s policies, saying Martin has written “reassuringly and supportively” to Musk supporting his objectives even as they are challenged in court.

“Surely no United States Attorney in this District (or elsewhere for that matter) should further this intimidation. The nominee appears complicit in it, fully and completely,” the letter’s signatories wrote.

The statement was signed by career assistant attorneys serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Lyndon B. Johnson, including several retired state and federal judges and political appointees of both parties.

Last week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee called for Martin to face legal disciplinary proceedings in Washington, D.C., for purported abuses, including his dismissal of charges against a pardoned Capitol riot defendant he represented as a defense attorney.

“Mr. Martin’s conduct not only speaks to his fitness as a lawyer,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois), ranking Democrat on the committee, wrote with nine other senators, but “his activities are part of a broader course of conduct by President Trump and his allies to undermine the traditional independence of Department of Justice investigations and prosecutions and the rule of law.”

In February, Raskin wrote Martin directly and asked him to explain his actions to Congress. Raskin said Martin has not responded and has refused to engage with the Judiciary Committee.

“The only plausible explanation for your actions is a decision to use the powers of your office to promote President Donald Trump’s campaign of revenge and retribution against anyone who would uphold the rule of law against his mob,” Raskin wrote Martin in a Feb. 6 letter.

The new open letter and an accompanying news release by former prosecutors called for the Judiciary Committee to hold a public hearing on Martin’s nomination, calling him “unfit and unqualified to be the next United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.”

The letter ran through a string of Martin’s recent actions, including demotion of seven top supervisors to entry-level assignments with no explanation; an abandoned effort to investigate Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (New York) for remarks he made in 2020 about two Supreme Court justices; a thwarted attempt to freeze a $20 billion Biden climate grant initiative without sufficient evidence of a crime; and a threat posted online to investigate the Covington & Burling law firm, whose lawyers provided pro bono services to former Trump special counsel Jack Smith.

“Any one of these acts should be enough to disqualify nominee Martin from the position of United States Attorney,” the former prosecutors said. “Collectively, they present an overt and recurring aversion to the Rule of Law, with all of the disastrous consequences for the safety and security of the people of the District of Columbia and indeed the United States that flow from this perversion.”

Among the signers were several Republican appointees, including Stuart Gerson, who led the Justice Department’s civil division under President George H.W. Bush and served as acting attorney general briefly in the Clinton administration; Charles R. Work, a Reagan Justice Department appointee; and Donald Santarelli, who was appointed to serve in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. Other high-profile endorsees include prominent white-collar defense attorneys Thomas C. Green and Wm. Barry Levine, and retired D.C. Court of Appeals judge Michael W. Farrell.

A spokesperson for Martin declined to comment. A person familiar with the office said: “The U.S. Attorney has spent every day since his appointment meeting with local and federal law enforcement officials and internal staff while working tirelessly to make D.C. Safe Again for residents and visitors. This office is committed to ensuring that everyone can live, work, and visit the nation’s capital without fear of violence.”

Many on the political right have hailed Martin’s moves, calling him a stalwart defender of Trump.

“Since Inauguration Day, Ed has been doing a great job as Interim U.S. Attorney, fighting tirelessly to restore Law and Order, and make our Nation’s Capital Safe and Beautiful Again. He will get the job done,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account last month in announcing his intention to nominate Martin to a full term.

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