Ed Martin, head of the Trump DOJ’s ‘weaponization’ unit, leaving role
The lawyer leading President Donald Trump’s effort to investigate the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice is leaving his role. Trump had tasked Ed Martin to look into prosecutors who launched investigations into Trump or his allies.
A Justice Department spokesperson told NBC News that Martin would continue to serve as pardon attorney in the Justice Department.
“President Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to do a great job in that role,” the spokesperson told NBC.
The Washington Post reported Martin’s return to his former role as a demotion. Among the targets of Martin’s work with the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group” was Jack Smith, the special counsel who obtained indictments against Trump over his handling of classified material and his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Who is Ed Martin?
After Trump returned to the White House last year, he appointed Martin as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. However, the appointment caused concerns among lawmakers, including Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
Trump reversed his decision and instead named Martin the pardon attorney and director of the weaponization unit, which Attorney General Pam Bondi established following a presidential executive order. The president later picked Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former prosecutor, for U.S. attorney for D.C.
Before joining the Trump administration, Martin was chair of the Missouri Republican Party and president of the Eagle Forum, a conservative advocacy group. According to The Post, he helped fund the rally at which Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, before supporters disrupted the certification of Electoral College votes at the Capitol.
What is the ‘weaponization’ group investigating?
The Trump administration created the weaponization group to investigate those connected to the Jan. 6 select committee who did not receive pardons from former President Joe Biden. Biden had issued preemptive pardons after some raised concerns that the incoming Trump administration might retaliate against committee members and their staff. The committee referred Trump to the Justice Department for investigation.
Martin has said that lawmakers who received preemptive pardons could become part of the investigation.
“I can tell you we’re investigating how the pardons were granted,” Martin said. “It was not like anything in the history of America.”
Martin also investigated Smith, the special counsel, as well as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who oversaw Trump’s felony conviction in 2024.
In November, The Post reported that Martin had used inappropriate tactics to launch investigations of Trump enemies, including Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff has not been charged with a crime.
On Sunday, CNN reported that the Justice Department was refocusing Martin’s investigations, with the goal of producing results in the next two months.
Since Bondi created the group last year, it has failed to deliver on its promises. However, the attorney general has discussed her dedication to Trump’s allegations of political weaponization since he appointed her to the position.
“I took office with two main goals: to end the weaponization of justice and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime,” Bondi said in October.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
