WASHINGTON — Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on a permanent basis, dodged questions about his views on Jan. 6 and his prior criticism of Republican politicians in written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of his confirmation process.
Martin, a longtime conservative activist who became a “Stop the Steal” advocate after the 2020 election, was named by Trump as acting U.S. attorney in D.C. on Inauguration Day. Senate Democrats as well as career federal prosecutors have raised alarms about Martin’s nomination to the post, citing his lack of experience, his past controversial comments and the politicized approach he has taken since taking over the job on an interim basis.
If Martin is still the interim U.S. attorney on May 20 and hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate, the federal court in Washington will appoint someone to fill the role until Trump’s nominee for the position is confirmed.
A copy of Martin’s answers to questions for the record in his confirmation process was obtained by NBC News. In the document, Martin also distanced himself from Jan. 6 defendant Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a man the government portrayed as Nazi sympathizer during the course of his case. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2022 and was among those pardoned by Trump this year.
Martin called Hale-Cusanelli an “extraordinary leader” when giving him an award last year. Martin has interviewed him four times, though the Trump nominee said in his written answers he could only recall one interview with Hale-Cusanelli and declined to say when he last spoke with him.
Martin also declined to answer a question on whether he’d ever stated or suggested the Jan. 6 attack was “deliberately planned, premeditated, or organized by the FBI,” citing an investigation he launched into his predecessors’ handling of an obstruction charge used against Jan. 6 defendants and Justice Department policy against commenting on ongoing matters. Martin previously represented Jan. 6 defendants and was a board member of an organization founded by Hale-Cusanelli’s aunt. Multiple Jan. 6 prosecutors have been fired and others were demoted in the time since he took over the U.S. attorney’s office.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Martin had repeatedly avoided answering the questions from the committee.
“Overall, these responses, which are under oath, leave me with even more questions and further underscore the need to hear live testimony from Ed Martin at a hearing,” Durbin said. “Mr. Martin makes a number of false statements that are easily debunked and dodges at least 80 questions outright, stating he doesn’t ‘recall’ the answer to a question more than 39 times, ‘I don’t know’ more than 21 times, and some variation of ‘can’t discuss this matter’ more than 20 times.”
A spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the committee will not be holding a confirmation hearing for Martin, citing “longtime committee precedent.” The spokesperson said once all of Martin’s background materials are in, the committee would move to list him on the agenda for a committee vote, a process that typically takes weeks with controversial nominees.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has placed a hold on Martin’s nomination and said he’ll “block attempts to jam through his appointment at every stage.”
Martin did not respond to a request for comment on Durbin’s criticism of his answers to the committee.
Ahead of the May 20 deadline, when Martin’s interim status will expire, some of the questions sent by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed specifically designed to pick off Republican votes. The questions pointed out that Martin has called for primary challenges against GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah, and has criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, claiming they enriched themselves during their service in government. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Curtis told NBC News that he found Martin’s comments — that Curtis was one of the “traitors to the life position” in Congress who should be challenged in a primary — “almost funny,” adding that they wouldn’t influence his vote. “But his qualifications will,” Curtis said.
Curtis said that he’d be spending time looking at Martin’s interactions with Jan. 6 defendants and that Martin’s background for the position gave him pause.
“Pause is a good word,” Curtis said. “But look, I’m just spending a little bit more time with it, to see what it was, what it wasn’t.
Relationship with Jan. 6 defendant under scrutiny
Martin was a member of the Patriot Freedom Project, which supported Jan. 6 defendants, and received $30,000 for being on the board, according to his financial filing. The group was founded by Cynthia Hughes, Hale-Cusanelli’s aunt.
Martin said in response to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not recall when he first made contact with Hale-Cusanelli and said he was “not close” with him and did not have “close, consistent interactions” with the man. Martin said he condemned Hale-Cusanelli’s remarks “in the strongest terms possible” and that he was not aware of Hale-Cusanelli’s comments and views until after Hale-Cusanelli received his award.
During an interview with Hale-Cusanelli in June 2024, Martin referenced photos that came up in Hale-Cusanelli’s criminal case, in which he had a mustache that made him resemble Adolph Hitler. Martin said in the interview that Hale-Cusanelli was “making jokes about it” and that it was not his best moment but it was not illegal.
The photo of Hale-Cusanelli was referenced throughout his criminal case, and the evidence about Hale-Cusanelli’s other comments has long been public. In a 2021 filing just days after the Jan. 6 attack, the Justice Department called Hale-Cusanelli “an avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer,” and noted that federal agents recovered a copy of Hitler’s manifesto and a novel written by a white nationalist leader.
At his sentencing hearing after a jury trial, a federal judge dismissed the defendant’s attempts to downplay the photo, saying the broader evidence of Hale-Cusanelli’s beliefs were clear. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden called Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony “highly dubious” and dismissed Hale-Cusanelli’s attempts to portray a photo of him wearing a Hitler mustache as a joke, that the “evidence shows otherwise” and that it was abundantly clear the defendant had “sexist, racist and antisemitic” views.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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