After a revolt in the GOP-led Senate tanked interim US attorney for DC Ed Martin’s nomination this week, President Trump abruptly named him as his weaponization czar, seemingly as a consolation prize.
But behind the scenes, Martin has spent months leveraging his perch as top federal DC prosecutor and quietly operating as a tip of the spear in the administration’s war against Russiagate villains, Capitol riot prosecutions and lawfare, The Post has learned.
Now that his responsibilities have been sharpened, Martin anticipates there “may be no limit to the targets” the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group will pursue under his watch, since there “was no limit to the weaponization.”
“It’s a nationwide and frankly, international docket where the government was used against the citizens, where the government was weaponized,” Martin told The Post about his plans for the weaponization working group.
“Sometimes there’ll be crimes involved, in which case we’ll prosecute. Sometimes there’ll be just the need to make clear this is not how it’s supposed to go.”
Martin’s Russiagate targets
Shortly after Trump tapped him as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, a post that expires on May 20, Martin quickly demoted over half a dozen prosecutors involved with Capitol riot cases and fired off investigatory letters to key Russiagate actors.
This includes Andrew Weissman, the Mueller probe “pitbull;” Mary McCord, who oversaw DOJ’s sprawling probe into possible Trump-Russia ties; Aaron Zelinsky, another Mueller probe prosecutor; and Charles McGonigal, a former FBI special agent in charge who also worked on the Russia probe of the Trump campaign.
FBI agent on Russia probe who had ties to oligarch
Just last week, Martin’s office fired off an email to McGonigal’s attorney, asking for an interview with him over “information [that] has come to the attention of my office,” according to a copy of the letter first seen by The Post.
Based on the letter, it is not clear what Martin’s team unearthed about McGonigal, who is now ironically serving out a 78-month sentence for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions and concealing information from the feds about how he received $225,000 from someone linked to the Albanian government.
“I cannot comment on this letter except to say that we believe Mr. McGonigle has information related to an ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson said when asked for more information.
The Post contacted McGonigal’s lawyer for comment.
Turning up the heat on the ‘Mueller pitball’
Perhaps the most high-profile known target Martin pursued is Weissman, who was the top lieutenant of the Mueller probe and is now an MSNBC legal analyst.
In March, Martin raised conflict of interest concerns against Weissman over his role in signing off on a settlement of up to $4.5 billion in a foreign bribery case revolving around Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht while serving as chief of the Criminal Fraud Section of the Justice Department in 2016.
Martin pointed out that Weissman worked for the Jenner & Block law firm before leading the DOJ’s Criminal Fraud Section.
Jenner & Block represented Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management, which seemingly took advantage of the fallout from the bribery case and purchased a 57% stake from Odebrecht in Peruvian toll road authority Rutas de Lima in 2016.
“Were you paid a bonus or a higher salary when you returned to Jenner & Block after clearing its longtime client of consequences for corruption?” Martin wrote in a scathing letter to Weismann in March, Racket News reported.
Spokespeople for both Brookfield and Jenner & Block told The Post that Weissman never did any legal work for them, nor were they part of the settlement that the ex-Mueller aide signed off on in 2016. The Post contacted Weissman for comment.
Key ally’s crusade against anti-Trump ‘demons’
One of Martin’s close confidants was once a target of the Russia collusion probe and now appears to be very keen on getting “true justice” against key actors in the inquiry he believes ruined his life.
Michael Caputo, a self-styled “smashmouth” politico and former Trump administration COVID-19 spokesperson, served as Martin’s “sherpa” during the bruising Senate confirmation process.
Caputo, a protégé of Roger Stone who was subject to the Mueller probe’s scrutiny of his prior public relations work for the Kremlin not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, previously did work for a firm that represented a Peruvian client now mired in a separate multi-billion-dollar legal spat involving Brookfield.
“I will go wherever President Trump sends me to get accountability for the demons who illegally weaponized the government against him and his allies, against my family and friends,” he told The Post in response to questions about whether he was involved in the Weissman letter.
“I have been proud to help US Attorney Ed Martin deliver on his promise to the President.”
But Caputo, whose wife is Ukrainian, has been publicly open about the trauma he felt when scrutinized by the feds during the thick of the Russiagate debacle.
Around the time he dealt with fallout from Russiagate, Caputo suffered from metastatic head and neck cancer. He also lost a close friend to cancer at the time.
“There is the death and near deaths, the suicide attempts readers will never know, the illnesses brought on by stress,” Caputo wrote in a deeply personal piece about his experience with the Russia probe.
“It would be a crime to abandon investigations into Russiagate, both because it’s ongoing and because of the cost to those of us who were victims of it.”
The DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group was established in February by Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to an executive order from Trump to root out remnants of lawfare and hold key perpetrators accountable.
Martin was an early member of the group, and now, as its leader, he will report to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. He has also been tapped to serve as pardon attorney.
“The truth is important, and we need it,” Martin reflected about his new role. “We need to move forward. But then, after the truth is known, we need to hold those accountable that did the wrongdoing, and we need to also help those who are victims. We have both of those obligations.”
