Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (April 3, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement on Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin: 

“Ed Martin has made it clear he sees his role as being President Trump's personal enforcer. His record of political extremism and subservience to Trump speaks for itself. 

“Mr. Martin is hellbent on erasing the truth about the mob violence of January 6, a day he actually likened to a Mardi Gras parade, and has been retaliating against government officials who followed the facts and the law and prosecuted the hundreds of crimes committed, including the violent assaults on police officers. He moved swiftly in his early days in office to fire over a dozen senior federal violent crime prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office simply because they had prosecuted January 6 defendants, including a number personally represented as defense counsel. In a stunning violation of the law and ethics rules, Martin used his public office in his first week to dismiss charges against a January 6 defendant whom he was still representing. Shockingly, he was a government lawyer acting on both sides of the 'v.' in a criminal case, something I have never seen in my life. 

“Mr. Martin launched an Orwellian investigation into Democratic Members of Congress apparently for the newly minted crime of criticizing Trump and Musk. He fired the veteran career chief of the criminal section for refusing to open a bogus investigation. He has already wielded his power to threaten journalists, law firms, universities, and peaceful protestors with vindictive and baseless prosecutions. 

“Trump nominated Ed Martin precisely because he's confident Mr. Martin will place his blind and unlimited loyalty to Trump above his duty to enforce the law impartially, a duty he seems not to comprehend or have considered at all. He is plainly unfit to serve as D.C. U.S. Attorney, a position of serious importance to the rule of law in the Nation’s Capital. I hope the Senate moves swiftly and unanimously to reject this disturbing nomination.”