Ed Martin, advocate for Jan. 6 defendants, named interim chief overseeing Capitol riot cases

WASHINGTON — A conservative activist who has been on the board of a group supporting Jan. 6 defendants has been named to head the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the federal prosecutor’s office that has overseen the hundreds of cases brought in the Capitol siege investigation.

Ed Martin will be the interim chief, Trump Justice Department official Chad Gilmartin told NBC News.

Martin was a prominent member of the “Stop the Steal” movement. In a speech at the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, he called on “die-hard true Americans” to work until their “last breath” to “stop the steal.”

On Jan. 6, Martin tweeted that he was “at the Capitol” and said the crowd was rowdy “but nothing out of hand,” and then tweeted, “Like Mardi Gras in DC today: love, faith and joy.” At the time of Martin’s tweet, rioters had breached the building and Ashli Babbitt had been shot; on the other side of the Capitol, one Jan. 6 rioter would soon drive a stun gun into an officer’s neck during the brutal battle at the lower west tunnel.

Martin was on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, which advocated for Jan. 6 defendants and held fundraisers at Trump’s properties, including events where Trump spoke.

Last year, Martin was named deputy policy director of the platform committee for the Republican National Committee.