During his astonishing tenure as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., Ed Martin was effectively a caricature of himself. Before taking office, Martin was a conservative activist who supported Jan. 6 criminal defendants and was a prominent member of the so-called “Stop the Steal” movement, and while in office, he put that background to predictable use.
Over the course of roughly 16 weeks, Martin repeatedly proved his critics right, acting as a hyper-partisan prosecutor who appeared to abuse the powers of his office. While the Republican-led Senate tends to act as a rubber stamp for White House nominees, Martin was so ridiculous that his nomination failed in the face of bipartisan opposition.
But hours after the president announced that Martin wouldn’t be confirmed, Trump rewarded the Republican lawyer with a new gig in the administration. NBC News reported:
Right-wing activist Ed Martin, who was replaced today by Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., will serve in the Justice Department as the director of the ‘Weaponization Working Group,’ associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney, Trump announced this evening on Truth Social.
The president’s online statement on Martin’s new role was certainly Trumpian, in that it included one unfortunate claim after another. “Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote, which wasn’t true. He added, “In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims.”
Of course, Joe Biden didn’t lead a “regime”; there was no actual “weaponization” of the government during the Democrat’s presidency; and there were no “victims” of the abuses that did not occur in reality. But let’s not brush past the fact that Martin is not just joining a “working group” that’s tackling a made-up problem, he’ll apparently also serve as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, replacing Elizabeth Oyer, who was fired in March allegedly after she refused to sign off on a plan to restore Mel Gibson’s gun rights. The Justice Department was apparently eager to help the actor and Trump supporter, and according to Oyer, when she stood up for propriety and procedure, she was shown the door. Oyer, in other words, resisted the push to politicize her office. If Martin’s record is any indication, that won’t be a problem for Team Trump going forward.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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