President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Aug. 21 that Ed Martin is leaving his role in the administration to work on outside legal efforts regarding the upcoming congressional midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election.
Martin is a longtime conservative activist and lawyer known for his role in the “Stop the Steal” movement surrounding the disputed 2020 presidential election. He is currently the U.S. pardon attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ) but previously led the department’s Weaponization Working Group. He was also interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from January to May 2025.
“Ed Martin has been with me from the very beginning, and done an incredible job as an Attorney, Director of the Weaponization Working Group, and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia,” Trump said in the social media post.
“Ed is now leaving to go outside to fight Legal Battles for the upcoming Midterm Election, and the Presidential Election of 2028. I know he will do an outstanding job, ensure Free, Fair, and Honest Elections, and strongly advance our Constitutional Rights. Good luck Ed!” Trump added.
Martin has been a polarizing figure in recent years.
Trump signed Executive Order 14147 on Jan. 20, 2025, which aimed to end the “weaponization of the federal government.”
The next month, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi established the working group, directing it to review former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump, prosecutions arising from the security breach at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, cases involving anti-abortion protesters, and the alleged targeting of Catholics and other groups during the Biden administration.
Martin, who was known for representing defendants charged in the Capitol breach, was appointed to lead the DOJ’s working group.
He left his leadership role in February and retained his position as DOJ pardon attorney.
Trump had also nominated Martin to permanently fill the post of U.S. attorney in the nation’s capital but withdrew the nomination after he failed to secure support from key senators including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), one of the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. Instead, Trump nominated Jeanine Pirro to the post. In August 2025, Pirro was sworn in after the U.S. Senate confirmed her.
Tillis said at the time that while he thought Martin “did a good job” in explaining that some defendants charged in the Capitol breach were over-prosecuted, “there were some—two or three hundred of them—that should have never gotten a pardon.”
Trump signed Executive Order 14173 on Jan. 21, 2025, directing public schools and universities to shutter diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, or face a loss of federal funding.
Weeks later, as interim U.S. attorney, Martin sent a letter to William Treanor, Georgetown University Law Center dean, saying that the institution was “teaching and promoting” DEI as part of its curriculum. The letter didn’t specify how.
The letter advised Treanor that no students affiliated with Georgetown Law would be considered for fellowship programs, summer internships, or employment until the DEI issue was “resolved.”
On March 10, the District of Columbia Bar began disciplinary proceedings against Martin, alleging that he tried to force Georgetown Law School into ending its DEI programs.
The bar association alleges Martin violated its rules of professional conduct during his time in that role. If found to have committed misconduct, he could face disbarment, suspension of his legal license, or lesser sanctions.
“Mr. Martin knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” a petition by Disciplinary Counsel Hamilton P. Fox III reads.
The DOJ argued the bar complaint was politically motivated, and Martin himself argued the complaint was constitutionally suspect.
Aldgra Fredly and Stacy Robinson contributed to this report.
This article by Matthew Vadum appeared Aug. 21, 2026, in The Epoch Times. It was updated Aug. 22, 2026.