President Trump’s nominee for D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is using the Department of Justice to “investigate” one of Trump’s oldest, and most baseless grievances to date — the integrity of the country’s election system.
It is one of many actions Martin has taken as acting head of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office to investigate and threaten President Trump’s political enemies and to carry out Trump’s retribution agenda, as the DOJ’s longtime independence from the White House is dismantled under Trump II.
Earlier this week, Martin, who has himself promoted false claims about the 2020 election, formed a special unit supposedly devoted to upholding election integrity.
The unit was announced via an office-wide email that was obtained by Bloomberg Law as the “Special Unit: Election Accountability.”
“Nearly 20 years later, Americans do not have confidence in our election systems,” Martin said in his email, per Bloomberg. “One of the best ways to restore that confidence is to protect our systems and demand accountability.”
In his email, Martin notified staff that the unit, which is apparently currently seeking volunteers, has already begun one investigation and “will continue to make sure that all the election laws of our nation are obeyed.” The email reportedly did not mention the details of the investigation.
Not only are the details of the investigation itself unclear, it also remains to be seen how exactly Martin would have jurisdiction over any cases outside of the District of Columbia.
“He seems to be misunderstanding his jurisdiction and the federal laws around elections and voting, and without more information, it’s unclear what is being done here other than furthering conspiracy theories that he’s embraced in the past,” David Becker, the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research told TPM.
“The reason some people don’t have confidence, and that’s a factual statement, is because people have been spreading lies about our elections,” Becker added. “And it’s remarkable to me that even after President Trump successfully won reelection in this past election, that the investment in the lies is so great that they continue to look backwards five years or more, trying to disprove an election that’s been proven to be secure over and over and over and over again.”
The extent of the current election integrity investigation remains to be seen, however Martin is a big time election denier who has previously, and baselessly, claimed that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that Trump won the election. He personally represented a Jan. 6 defendant in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol and helped oversee the dismissal of Jan. 6 cases after Trump issued a sweeping pardon for those charged or convicted for participating in the riot.
Martin has since used his role as acting D.C. U.S. attorney to announce investigations into some of the Jan. 6-related prosecutions carried out by the DOJ after the insurrection.
