Dear America: Missouri owes you an apology.
One of President Donald Trump鈥檚 very worst nominees to join his second administration, Ed Martin, was a fixture in our state鈥檚 politics long before he was tapped this year to lead the U.S. attorney鈥檚 office in Washington, D.C.
We Missourians all watched for years as Martin warped and undermined institutions including the governor鈥檚 staff, the state Republican Party and even conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly鈥檚 legacy with his toxic brand of combat politics and his contempt for the rule of law.
Martin鈥檚 exit from Missouri鈥檚 political landscape a few years back was our gain. And now it鈥檚 your loss, America 鈥 unless the Senate can muster the will to block this singularly ill-advised nomination.
reported this week that Martin has appeared on Russian state media as a guest commentator more than 150 times in the past decade and then failed to disclose that activity on a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire that specifically required listing of all media interviews.
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Why Martin would want to bury those appearances is anyone鈥檚 guess, but here鈥檚 a good one: His commentary effectively amplified anti-American Kremlin propaganda campaigns, alarmed national security analysts told the newspaper.
It鈥檚 the latest controversy in a swirl of them that has surrounded Martin since Trump tapped him in January as interim U.S. attorney for D.C., pending his Senate confirmation to the position permanently.
Not yet three months into his new job, Martin鈥檚 record is already characteristic of the kind of contempt for norms that he displayed throughout his Missouri days.
He has fired more than 30 federal prosecutors who worked on cases against those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He signed a motion to dismiss charges against at least one of the Jan. 6 attackers who he had earlier represented as defense counsel, an apparent violation of Department of Justice ethics rules.
He has threatened to for criticizing Trump. He has declared on social media that his prosecutors are (wrong 鈥 their allegiance is supposed to be to the Constitution and the American people). His attacks on journalists have included bragging of 鈥渟tanding against entities like (The Associated Press) that refuse to put America first.鈥
U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, put it aptly in a recent statement: 鈥淣o one embodies Donald Trump鈥檚 personal weaponization of the Justice Department more than Ed Martin.鈥
As those familiar with Martin鈥檚 Missouri political career know, weaponizing power in ethically or legally questionable ways is his specialty.
As chief of staff for then-Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, Martin resigned under fire in 2007 after a controversy over the office鈥檚 handling of records that were required to be preserved under the state鈥檚 Sunshine Law, and the firing of a staff lawyer who tried to enforce that law. The lawyer ended up winning a $500,000 settlement from the state.
A state investigation would later conclude 鈥 reportedly at a cost of some $2 million to the Missouri taxpayers 鈥 that Martin had illegally destroyed email records. Separately, media investigations found Martin had improperly used his state office for campaign activities against future Gov. Jay Nixon.
Martin became chairman of the Missouri GOP in 2013 and promptly divided the party. His embrace of Tea Party tactics and his attacks on establishment Republicans were so internally destructive that ex-U.S. Sen. John Danforth, arguably the state鈥檚 most prominent Republican elder, decried it as an intraparty 鈥減urge.鈥
A year later, the state party鈥檚 committee secretary, Pat Thomas, publicly slammed Martin for inserting the state party into a Mississippi U.S. Senate race on behalf of a Tea Party challenge to a Republican incumbent. The in-fighting took its toll on party fundraising. When Martin finally left his role as state party chairman in 2015, records showed the party had just $235 in its campaign account.
Martin next took his traveling road show of chaos to Phyllis Schlafly鈥檚 organization 鈥 and promptly, deeply divided it.
After Schlafly tapped Martin in 2015 to run her conservative activist coalition Eagle Forum, some in the organization alleged he influenced the elderly Schlafly to embrace the then-new phenomenon of Trumpism, which they viewed as anathema to the traditional Republican thrust of their movement. After Schlafly died in 2016, some Eagle Forum board members accused Martin of trying to 鈥monetize鈥 her death for book sales.
What鈥檚 notably missing from this sorry resume鈥? Any mention of prosecutorial experience; Martin has none.
And what wisdom did Martin impart to his Russian media hosts in all those Kremlin-friendly interviews? Among his on-air comments in 2022, The Washington Post reports, was that there was 鈥渘o evidence鈥 of a Russian buildup on the Ukrainian border. Nine days later, Russia invaded and sparked a war that continues to this day.
Abuse of power, politicization of governmental functions, official threats based on loyalty rather than law, all wrapped up in lack of qualifications or judgment 鈥 these are, we grant you, qualities that would seem to fit right in with many (most?) of Trump鈥檚 other major nominees.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean it would be good for America to permanently confirm Ed Martin to this important and powerful post. Take it from us in Missouri, senators.
