Background: Rioters supporting President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File). Inset: FILE — Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023 (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File).
A group of current and former federal agents suing the Department of Justice says that a pledge by the embattled former acting head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the nation’s capital to “name” and “shame” prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases poses a significant risk to their safety.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, a group of anonymous federal agents sued the DOJ in February, alleging that President Donald’s Trump directive to compile a list of those within the department who participated in Jan. 6 cases — as well as the failed prosecution of Trump’s alleged wrongful retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate — was an effort to “purge” the agency of his perceived political enemies. In their complaint, the agents said they feared that “all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons.”
Notably, the DOJ has said that it could not guarantee that the list would not be publicly released by other entities or agencies of the federal government.
On Thursday, those agents filed a notice to U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb that Ed Martin — who Trump had named as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, despite his reputation among federal prosecutors as an “egregiously unqualified political hack” — has now placed them in even more danger with public comments made Tuesday.
“Mr. Martin’s statements represent new, relevant facts worthy of the Court’s attention while it considers Plaintiffs’ requested relief,” the filing says.
Since leaving the top prosecutor post in Washington, D.C., Martin now serves as both Associate Deputy Attorney General and the head of the DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group.” Trump has described Martin’s role as “highly important,” as he “will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed justice for its victims.”
According to the plaintiffs, Martin said at a press conference Tuesday that, as “captain” of the newly-formed group, he would “name” and “shame” the prosecutors — that is, if they couldn’t be charged with a crime.
Per the filing, Martin said the following:
It can’t be that the system is stifling the truth from coming out because of some procedure. If it’s in the manual, if it’s the law, look. I’m the guy that stands here and tells you, the January 6 defendants, every one of them wants all their documents back. They want us to release all the video. We said that’s not how that works. We have to be thoughtful and serious about how the system works. There is a path, if you are suing, there is a way, but we have to be serious about it, just like we have to be serious about getting to the truth. There are some really bad actors. Some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And 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 shamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so, that’s how I believe the job operates.
Martin’s intent, the plaintiffs say, is “unmistakable” — and that his plan to “name” and “shame” is “how [he] believe[s] the job operates.”
“It confirms that DOJ leadership values their version of the ‘truth coming out’ over ‘some procedure,”” the filing also says, noting that this position is “particularly relevant where Mr. Martin is widely known to believe, and has publicly stated, the January 6th insurrection was a ‘fraud’ and a ‘hoax’ orchestrated by the FBI.”
Additionally, the plaintiffs say, Martin’s pledge signals that “DOJ leadership is in regular contact” with Jan. 6 defendants who have been “imploring” the DOJ to release information such as the names of the prosecutors who worked on those cases.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly granted the Department of Government Efficiency — an unofficial division of the Trump administration headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk — access to the list via DOJ systems, the plaintiffs said in the filing, citing a New York Times report.
The plaintiffs have asked Cobb, a Joe Biden appointee, to order the DOJ to destroy the list and issue an injunction preventing the DOJ from releasing it.
According to the federal docket, Cobb ordered the DOJ to reply to the plaintiffs’ filing by Wednesday.
Law&Crime’s Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
