Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has appeared on Russian state media more than 150 times, according to a new report.
Ed Martin, the current interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., appeared on networks funded by the Russian government from August 2016 to April 2024 as a guest commentator on RT and Sputnik, The Washington Post reports.
Martin helped organize the “Stop the Steal” movement promoting the baseless position that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. He has also vowed to pursue legal action against anyone impeding Elon Musk’s DOGE work, and made headlines last month for his history of inflammatory remarks.
He did not initially disclose his appearances on Russian TV when Trump nominated him to his new post.
After dozens of people were killed in a chemical attack in Syria in April 2017, Martin appeared on RT America to claim that it was possible the incident was “engineered” in Washington “by the people that want war in Syria.”
The Trump White House denounced the attack, blamed the Syrian government, and ordered a missile strike. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said at the time that the United States “fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext” for a missile strike.
More recently, in early 2022, Martin reportedly said in another appearance that “there’s no evidence” of a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders. Russia launched a war against Ukraine about a week later.
In March of that year, he suggested there was a missed alliance between the U.S. and Russia during Trump’s first term.
“We needed to be allies with nuclear powers like Russia,” he said on Sputnik, the Post reported. “What Trump knew was you want to be allies with the toughest dudes on the street. And he was ready to be allies with North Korea and with Putin and everybody.”
Martin failed to disclose these appearances on his Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, which asks about media appearances, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the committee, said Wednesday in a statement.
“The 150 undisclosed appearances Mr. Martin has made on Russian state media as recently as April of last year —as Russia was actively bombing Ukraine — raises further serious questions about whether he has the temperament to serve as U.S. Attorney, concerns that have been underlined by his misconduct as Interim U.S. Attorney,” Durbin said. The senator said the Post report underscored the need for Martin to testify under oath about his relationship with Russia.
A spokesperson for Martin told the Post on Tuesday that he “has disclosed all of the identified links in a supplemental letter to the Senate” in the past two days.
When asked about Martin’s guest spots on Russian state media, the White House defended Trump’s nomination.
“President Trump made a brilliant choice in selecting Ed Martin to serve a full, permanent term as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. With a distinguished record of service, Ed is the perfect leader to restore law and order and make our Nation’s Capital safe and beautiful once again,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.
The Illinois senator, along with other Democrats, last month requested the D.C. bar launch a disciplinary investigation into Martin, citing his dismissal of charges against his own client, a January 6 defendant, and his use of the “threat of prosecution to intimidate government employees and chill the speech of private citizens.”
This week, a group of former January 6 prosecutors also asked the D.C. bar to investigate Martin, saying he has “used his brief time in office to demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a federal prosecutor, announcing investigations against his political opponents, aiding defendants he previously represented, and communicating improperly with those he did not.”
