“Eagle” Ed Martin, the Trump loyalist that even this Republican Senate found too incompetent to confirm when he sought to head the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., has managed to find a new way to confirm that skepticism. Earlier this week, we heard that the DOJ relieved Ed of his tasks as the driving force behing the DOJ’s anti-weaponization initiative — the ironically named group working to actively weaponize the DOJ against Trump’s political enemies. Every accusation really is a confession, as they say.
Now we may know why Eagle Ed had his wings clipped.
According to CNN, a DOJ review found Martin leaked grand jury material from the Trump administration’s politically motivated investigations into Adam Schiff and Letitia James:
The department found that Martin had shared the secret grand jury material in the Schiff case, one of the sources said. The person said Martin initially denied sharing the material with unauthorized people when asked by department leaders, but emails soon surfaced showing that Martin had in fact shared the grand jury material.
Generally, we keep grand jury material secret for a reason. It protects investigative integrity and the rights of the accused. When prosecutors leak that material, it’s at least contemptuous and at worst obstruction of justice. That’s one of those actual crimes, not the made-up “somebody criticized Elon Musk” crimes Martin threatened people with during his tenure as interim D.C. U.S. Attorney.
Deputy AG Todd Blanche reportedly oversaw the review, resulting in Martin’s exile from the weaponization project to concentrate on his role overseeing pardons for a president almost assuredly selling pardons. But Blanche isn’t going to sell out a fellow MAGA warrior. In his statement to CNN, Blanche offers a masterclass in lawyerly semantics:
[T]here are no misconduct investigations into Ed Martin. Ed is doing a great job as Pardon Attorney.
The present tense does some conspicuous heavy lifting here. No misconduct investigations currently, but don’t ask Blanche the follow-up about investigations they’ve already concluded. Ed may be doing a great job as Pardon Attorney — he’s not, but he may have been — but how’s he doing as Weaponization Working Group chief, Todd?
Fittingly, the whole reason this investigation came to light was also quite dumb. Back in December, a witness named Christine Bish showed up at a Maryland courthouse after receiving a subpoena. Investigators asked her about two people who claimed to be working on fraud cases alongside Martin and FHFA Director Bill Pulte that the DOJ was investigating these individuals for impersonating federal agents. Shocking theory that the FBI wouldn’t have the same appetite for wild goose chases as a couple of bros informally deputized to poke into the half-baked theories Martin and Pulte keep pinning on Trump’s enemies.
Days later, a social media user highlighted that ongoing probe and referenced Pulte and Martin being under investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi responded by seemingly trying to correct the record, without elaborating. “There is no investigation into Bill Pulte” she wrote on X.
Hilarious.
For those keeping score at home, this is the same Ed Martin who: dismissed a case against his own former client, threatened Wikipedia, and harassed people without any criminal law justification just because he thought they sounded woke. He also posted photos he took with Russell Brand… not Forgetting Sarah Marshall-era Brand, but currently facing sexual assault charges Brand.
When he took over the weaponization group, he said of the work, “If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”
It seems this DOJ has little interest in pursuing charges here. So I guess we’ll have to rely on the shaming. And, hopefully, an ethics probe.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
