Top federal prosecutor in Washington previously defended Jan. 6 rioters

The top federal prosecutor in Washington D.C. has an unusual backstory.

He has no prior experience prosecuting violations of the law. Instead, he has defended people accused of breaking it, after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

Ed Martin advanced bogus claims about election fraud in swing states in 2020, and he spoke at a boisterous rally in Washington the day before the siege on the Capitol.

“Thank you for standing with all of the patriots next to you,” Martin told the crowd four years ago. “And thank you for standing for our president. But remember, what they’re stealing is not just an election. It’s our future.”

The Justice Department went on to charge more than 1,500 people with crimes at or near the Capitol. And Martin went on to defend a few of them in court, and to sit on a board that offered financial support to their families.

Last year he told the Unimpressed podcast that 99% of the Capitol defendants were normal people.

“I’ve never seen anything so unfair in terms of … how these people are characterized, you know, insurrectionists and felonious, all this stuff,” Martin said.

Now back in office, President Trump has granted clemency to all of the Jan. 6 defendants. And he picked Martin as the interim U.S. attorney in D.C.

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