As if Donald Trump and his team hadn’t already targeted enough of the president’s perceived political foes, the Republican’s Justice Department has recently added to the list, launching an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office — the same office that a brought a successful civil case against Trump and his family business.
That the president and his team appear to be brazenly weaponizing federal law enforcement is a scandal unto itself, but in case the developments weren’t quite provocative enough, NBC News also reported:
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has tapped Ed Martin, the ex-interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as ‘special attorney’ probing New York Attorney General Letitia James, two administration officials told NBC News. … [Martin] will also be involved in a Justice Department probe against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., over alleged mortgage fraud related to his ownership of homes in California and Maryland, the administration officials said.
There’s good reason Martin’s name might sound familiar.
During his astonishing tenure as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., the Trump loyalist 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. 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 eager to abuse the powers of his office. The Republican-led Senate tends to act as a rubber stamp for White House nominees, but Martin was so extreme that his nomination failed in the face of bipartisan opposition.
It was at that point that the president and the attorney general rewarded the activist with a new job — or more to the point, a few new jobs.
In May, Trump said the Missouri Republican would lead the Justice Department’s new “Weaponization Working Group” — tackling a problem that exists only in the minds of Republican conspiracy theorists — and serve as the DOJ’s new pardon attorney, succeeding Elizabeth Oyer, who was fired in March allegedly after she refused to sign off on a plan to restore actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
A few days later, Martin announced at a press conference that he intended to use his new platform to “name” and “shame” individuals the Justice Department determines it cannot charge with crimes. In other words, federal law enforcement officials might investigate suspects, only to discover that their targets didn’t break any laws.
According to Martin, his working group will take steps to smear these Americans publicly anyway — which, as an NBC News report noted, “would amount to a major departure from longstanding Justice Department protocols.”
A month later, Martin declared that he’s also investigating Joe Biden’s clemency actions, pursuing a different Republican conspiracy theory.
Now, evidently, Bondi has made Martin a “special attorney” (not to be confused with a special counsel) who’ll investigate at least two of the Democrats who’ve been repeatedly singled out by Trump. A couple of weeks after joining his party’s national ticket, then-Sen. JD Vance was eager to ease the minds of voters concerned about Trump and his threats of retaliation. Trump, the future vice president said at the time, is “not a vengeful guy.” Shortly after the election, Trump appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and suggested vengeance wasn’t part of his plans for a second term. “I’m not looking to go back into the past,” he said, adding, “Retribution will be through success.” The Republican president echoed the point during his second inaugural address, declaring, “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents.” I have some bad news for anybody who believed any of these claims. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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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