Missouri’s Ed Martin is out as nominee for DC US attorney. That’s a good move. | Opinion

Donald Trump has dropped Ed Martin from consideration for Washington, D.C.’s top prosecutor. We believe that’s a good decision, but not for the right reasons.

“He’s a terrific person, and he wasn’t getting the support from people that I thought; he’s done a very good job,” Trump said at the end of a White House announcement of a trade deal with the United Kingdom.

Ed Martin, an unapologetic Jan. 6 conspiracy theorist and President Donald Trump’s handpicked nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is not the blue-blooded patriot he claims to be. The former chairman of the Missouri GOP and Stop the Steal organizer has been tied to Russian propaganda and is not fit to serve as the top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capitol.

Who knew Martin was a stooge for Vladimir Putin’s state-run media outlets?

While we believe Martin to be unfit for the job, that’s not why Trump is moving on. It was, rather, senators’ reluctance to advance Martin’s nomination. “I have to be straight,” Trump said. “I was disappointed. A lot of people were disappointed, but that’s the way it works sometimes, that’s the way it works. And he wasn’t rejected, but we felt it would be very, it would be hard. And we have somebody else that we’ll be announcing over the next two days who’s going to be great.”

Not fit for US attorney

Most of us would be left in the dark about this matter because Martin, currently acting D.C. U.S. attorney, failed to initially disclose his many appearances on Russian-controlled media to the Senate committee considering his nomination, according to an exclusive expose by The Washington Post.

It was only after Post reporters inquired about Martin’s on-air consultant gig did he disclose these appearances in a supplemental letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the outlet reported.

If Martin failed to disclose these appearances as reported, Trump should rescind his nomination. At the least, the Senate should seriously consider Martin’s qualifications for the job. He’s never been a prosecutor — a prerequisite, one would think, for this all-too-important post.

If this glaring omission weren’t suspect enough, Martin veered into territory where no self-respecting American would dare by parroting Kremlin talking points about international affairs, according to The Post’s report.

Martin has also praised Russia’s ruthless leader in a blog post that described American bureaucrats he doesn’t agree with as “mediocre servants.”

“They despise figures like Vladimir Putin — not because he’s an enemy of the West, but because he reminds them of their inadequacies,” Martin wrote for Phyllis Schlafly Eagles.

Worse, Martin once described Nazi sympathizer Timothy Hale-Cusanelli as an “extraordinary man, extraordinary leader” during an awards ceremony held last year at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to Jewish publication The Forward.

In case you didn’t know, Hale-Cusanelli is a Jan. 6 rioter who reportedly told co-workers that “Hitler should have finished the job,” referring to the Holocaust, according to The Forward.

Labeling a white supremacist as “extraordinary” alone should disqualify Martin for holding any position of power in the federal government. If Martin had any sense of loyalty to this country, he would remove himself from consideration to one of the most important prosecuting positions in the nation.

A talking head for Russian media

But back to Martin’s ties to Russian media outlets. From 2016 to 2024, the bombastic conservative activist appeared on RT television broadcasts and Radio Sputnik more than 150 times, The Washington Post reported.

Why is this troubling? RT and Sputnik are used as Russian intelligence arms, according to the U.S. State Department. In 2024, State Department officials reportedly accused the Russian government of utilizing RT to facilitate online fundraisers to help the Russian military purchase weapons for its ongoing war in Ukraine.

That same year, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, a Republican from Michigan, described Radio Sputnik as “unfiltered Russian government propaganda” — and it is. We drew this same conclusion years ago after listening to those same absurd pro-Russian arguments on a Kansas City-area radio station.

According to The Post, Martin told an RT interviewer in early 2022 that there was no evidence of a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders, which we now know to be untrue. He criticized U.S. officials as warmongers who ignored Russia’s security concerns, The Post reported.

Nine days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. No amount of spin from Moscow, Martin or Trump’s administration could change the fact that Putin’s Russia was and is the aggressor in this ongoing conflict. If Martin is the top pick for U.S. attorney in D.C., America as we know it is in big trouble.

Besides, Martin has twice run unsuccessful campaigns for public office here in this state and lost. In 2010, he ran for Congress but lost to then-Democratic incumbent Russ Carnahan. He also was a Republican candidate for Missouri attorney general in the 2012, but lost to then-Democratic incumbent Chris Koster.

While Martin won’t get the job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Trump hints at a future with his administration. Martin is a loyalist, after all.

“I just want to say Ed is unbelievable, and hopefully we can bring him in, too, whether it’s DOJ or whatever, in some capacity, because he’s really outstanding.”

Now that senators know the real Ed Martin as much as Missourians do, perhaps they won’t let that happen.

This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 5:08 AM.