According to Ed Martin, Trump’s acting federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., “no one is above the law.” That was Martin’s assertion after a journalist (who happens to be employed by far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump ally Laura Loomer’s site) accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, a vociferous critic of President Donald Trump, of aggressively brushing him away.
It would have been more accurate for Martin to say that, in his office, no one is above the law unless they are a political ally of Trump, in which case you are free to behave with impunity. In a matter of weeks, Martin has turned one of the most important legal offices in the nation into an embarrassment, transforming it into a MAGA troll factory, launching pointless investigations and making empty threats.
In a matter of weeks, Martin has turned one of the most important legal offices in the nation into an embarrassment.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is the largest of the nation’s 94 federal prosecutorial jurisdictions, with 330 attorneys who routinely work high-profile cases that could range from a local murder to a transnational cybercrime outfit. Washington, D.C., also has an attorney general, elected by district residents, but it is the federal prosecutor, appointed by the president, who gets cases of any consequence, both for the district itself (violent crime) and the nation at large (Jan. 6).
Martin’s predecessor, Matthew Graves, prosecuted a Federal Reserve Board employee who was allegedly spying for China (he has denied the charges and a trial date is pending); partnered with the Department of Justice to seize a huge cache of Iranian weapons, which were promptly donated to Ukraine; and disrupted a fentanyl distribution operation (the defendants have pleaded not guilty).
It is true that Graves was too slow to respond to the rise of violent crime in Washington, D.C., which has been a priority for Trump. In that case, the president should have appointed a seasoned big-city prosecutor, and not the inexperienced Martin, who has never tried a case to disposition. He did, however, write a Trumpian coloring book (yes, really, but click at your own peril, because some of the worst graphic design in human history awaits).
Every administration has its share of servile apparatchiks, but few are as eager as Martin, who branded the federal prosecutors in his office “President Trump’s lawyers” in February, an astonishing admission that he has no interest in executing the duties of his office. In the weeks since, he has done nothing to dispel concern for his competence. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Martin’s jurisdiction will include cases related to financial crimes, political corruption and international terrorism. And if he isn’t willing to take those duties seriously, the rest of us could pay the price.
So far, seriousness has been hard to come by.
In one of his first moves on behalf of the American people, Martin sought to investigate Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer for a remark he made in 2020 about opposing Trump’s judicial nominees, preposterously claiming that the avuncular Brooklynite was advocating for real violence.
He also fired the prosecutors who worked under the direction of Graves on Jan. 6 rioters’ cases. Martin is a proponent of Trump’s big lie that the 2020 election was stolen and defended a few of the Jan. 6 rioters in court. “I’ve never seen anything so unfair,” he said of their prosecution on a podcast, according to NPR.
One brave D.C. prosecutor, Denise Cheung, resigned instead of following along with Martin’s sham investigation into “corruption” at the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, Martin is seeking to reverse some of President Joe Biden’s pardons because they had supposedly been signed with an “autopen,” a tool presidents have long favored.
Republicans’ claims to be the party of law and order would be far more credible if they stood with Democrats in blocking Martin’s confirmation.
Almost as soon as Trump’s term began, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency engendered nationwide fury by closing down entire federal departments (like the U.S. Agency for International Development) and firing federal workers without any cause. In response to the blowback, Martin wrote a groveling letter in which he promised to chase the supposed malefactors “to the end of the Earth,” whether they had committed a crime or “even simply acted unethically” (another sign that Martin does have a rudimentary understanding of his position). Martin was so infused with righteous fervor that he managed to misspell “no one,” which can’t have gone over well in an administration that claims to put a premium on hiring “seriously high IQ individuals.”
“DC Prosecutor Ed Martin Keeps Inventing New Ways To Disgrace His Office,” is how one headline on a prominent legal blog put it. Sure, you can chalk that up to Acela elites looking down their noses at Martin. But if Republicans are not infuriated by the above, many of them are nevertheless embarrassed by the fact that the Ed Martins and Laura Loomers of this world wield so much power in Washington. Yet they keep making the mistake of thinking that if they just look the other way, MAGA’s more unseemly elements will simply disappear. And maybe congressional Republicans really believed that in 2017, when “I haven’t seen the tweet” was a common refrain on Capitol Hill. But that fiction is impossible to maintain in 2025. Republicans’ claims to be the party of law and order would be far more credible if they stood with Democrats in blocking Martin’s confirmation, which is supposed to receive a hearing soon in the U.S. Senate (that hearing has been delayed because Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has placed a hold on the Martin nomination). GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee like Ted Cruz of Texas (who graduated from Harvard Law) and Josh Hawley of Missouri (a Yale Law guy) should see if Martin can run with the big dogs. After all, they’ve had no problem displaying their erudition before Democratic nominees. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., has a razor-sharp legal mind. It’s hard to believe that he has much regard for Martin. If that’s the case, he should not hold back. In an open letter, more than 100 former prosecutors call Martin “egregiously unqualified.” This isn’t about politics. It’s not even about the law, or how Martin feels about Marbury v. Madison or New York Times v. Sullivan. Martin is a former tea party activist whose rise through the ranks of the Missouri GOP involved allegations of bullying and political retribution (which he has denied), all while climbing the ranks of power. In 2013, he won election to head the state’s Republican Party, despite the fact that Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., as well as six Republican House legislators from the state, all opposed his bid. His latest, highest post is a thank you from Trump for Martin’s advocacy for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, whose base behavior that day D.C.’s new prosecutor has consistently misrepresented and downplayed. Trump is not wrong about Washington’s struggle with public safety (though he typically exaggerates the prevalence of homeless encampments and the rise in crime, which has subsided). Criticism that Graves was not attentive enough to local concerns does carry some merit, in my view. And many people in the district would indeed welcome more concerted attention to quality-of-life concerns. I will say that I am glad that Martin went to speak to residents of Ward 7 and 8, the historically Black sections of Washington. His comments on gun crime seem to have been fairly reasonable, at least in relative terms. But people did not come away convinced. “He works for the biggest criminal in the world,” one local resident told the Washington Informer, “and he comes here to tell us about crime.” During the first few days of the Trump administration, MAGA activists bullied GOP senators like Joni Ernst and Thom Tillis when it seemed like they might vote against Pete Hegseth, who ultimately won confirmation to be the secretary of defense. I am confident that Martin will not engender similar passion among Trump’s faithful: He is a Trump 1.0 guy trying to hang on in a Trump 2.0 world. And even if he does, isn’t it about time for Republicans to show some backbone and stand up to Trump? This is as good an opportunity as any.
Alexander Nazaryan
Alexander Nazaryan writes about politics, culture and science. 
