Conservative activist Ed Martin, who echoed Donald Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen 2020 election and defended Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol rioters, was nominated by the president on Monday to be the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., on a permanent basis, the Associated Press reports. Martin had been serving in the role on an interim basis since just after Trump was sworn in for his second term on Jan. 20. His appointment must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. “Since Inauguration Day, Ed has been doing a great job as Interim U.S. Attorney, fighting tirelessly to restore Law and Order, and make our Nation’s Capital Safe and Beautiful Again,” Trump on his Truth Social platform. “He will get the job done.”
Martin supervised legal clinics for low-income residents as director of the human rights office for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and, for two decades before becoming U.S. attorney, ran his own law practice and was active in Republican politics, including as the head of the Missouri Republican Party. As interim U.S. Attorney, Martin oversaw the dismissals of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases after Trump pardoned defendants commuted sentences or vowed to throw them out. He also ordered an internal review of prosecutors’ use of a felony charge against hundreds of Capitol rioters and directed employees to hand over files, emails and other documents. Lawyer Mike Davis, a Trump ally, heralded Martin in a social media post as the “perfect choice” for the job, saying Martin “will bring much-needed accountability and refocus the office on DC violent street crimes — making DC safe again for all Americans.” Alexis Loeb, the former deputy chief of the section that prosecuted the Jan. 6 cases, said Martin appears to be in the role “purely to execute on the president’s political priorities more so than the work of protecting public safety in Washington.”
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