{"id":445235,"date":"2026-02-02T20:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445235\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T20:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:24:10","slug":"ed-martin-out-as-leader-of-dojs-weaponization-group-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445235\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Martin out as leader of DOJ’s ‘weaponization’ group, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump loyalist Ed Martin is out as leader of the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cweaponization\u201d effort that is investigating prosecutors<\/a> who launched past probes into President Donald Trump and his allies, two people familiar with the discussions tell NBC News. <\/p>\n

When asked whether Martin still served in the role, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News that Martin continued to serve in a separate role, as pardon attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to do a great job in that role,\u201d according to the spokesman. <\/p>\n

Martin had been serving as interim U.S. attorney<\/a> for the District of Columbia, but the longtime right-wing activist faced opposition from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. <\/p>\n

Instead, Trump made Martin the pardon attorney and director of the \u201cweaponization working group\u201d established<\/a> by Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to one of the president\u2019s executive orders. Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was eventually named U.S. attorney for D.C<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The working group is seeking to examine work including that of former special counsel Jack Smith; any federal cooperation with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump\u2019s hush money case;<\/a> the Justice Department\u2019s handling of cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack; and criminal prosecutions of anti-abortion activists, among other issues.<\/p>\n

An advocate for those arrested following the riot at the Capitol, Martin previously said he planned to \u201cname\u201d and \u201cshame\u201d individuals the department could not formally charge with crimes, a major departure from long-standing Justice Department policy. <\/p>\n

Justice Department protocols state that officials generally shouldn\u2019t confirm the existence of or otherwise comment on ongoing investigations. Martin said it was important to get \u201cthe truth\u201d out when asked whether his plan would run afoul of those protocols. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear who is heading the group now. Martin didn’t respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trump loyalist Ed Martin is out as leader of the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cweaponization\u201d effort that is investigating prosecutors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-445235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}