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Trump DOJ appointee in DC lashes out after flurry of ‘personally insulting’ leaks in his first week

By Marshall Cohen and Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — The acting top federal prosecutor in Washington under President Donald Trump is furious about recent leaks to the press and also specifically directed staff to scrutinize a former official’s work on January 6 cases after she rebuked him on TV, according to internal emails obtained by CNN.

Ed Martin, the interim US attorney for DC, sent an email Tuesday to his entire office, complaining that someone leaked an email he sent Monday. In the Monday email, he launched an internal review of how prosecutors handled some January 6, 2021, cases where the Supreme Court concluded that prosecutors overstepped with charging decisions.

In the Tuesday email blast, Martin said: “Wow, what a disappointment to have my email yesterday to you all was leaked almost immediately. Again, personally insulting and professionally unacceptable. I guess I have learned my lesson (‘Fool me once…’).”

The latest missive from Martin highlights his turbulent first week, as he aggressively tries to impose Trump’s agenda at the Justice Department, while facing pushback both internally from career prosecutors and others who quit and then bashed his actions.

Martin is a socially conservative activist and commentator and was involved with the 2020 election denier movement. In his Tuesday email, he lashed out at a prosecutor who was involved in January 6 cases and resigned after Trump granted mass clemency that ended all of the nearly 1,600 cases and wiped away all remaining prison terms.

That ex-prosecutor, Ashley Akers, gave at least four TV interviews Monday, with multiple appearances on MSNBC and CNN, where she condemned many of Martin’s moves.

Akers said she had a “guttural reaction” when Trump chose to “immediately absolve” the January 6 defendants. She said it was “appalling” that Martin was “advocating on behalf of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers” by successfully urging a judge to nix their travel restrictions. And she called his internal review of January 6 cases a “wild goose chase.”

In response, Martin sent an officewide email Tuesday rebuking Akers for “going on television badmouthing our work (and me!).” He said, “we will need to make sure we have her records and emails,” including for his review of January 6 prosecutions. (Akers’ name was misspelled in the email.)

“I have never met her so I find her comments disconnected from reality – not a credit to our office,” Martin wrote in the email. “She mentioned ‘fear’ (and used the word ‘guttural’) – I am not sure to what she is referring … I will be reaching out to her. Maybe she had issues with her supervisors or my predecessor. We will see if we can help her.”

Akers declined to comment about Martin’s emails.

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment

In a separate email last week that was also obtained by CNN, Martin said he had a “great” first day in the office, but was dismayed that someone leaked details about a conversation they had. In many of his emails, Martin has complained about these leaks.

“Unfortunately, immediately after our ‘get to know you’ meetings, one of the attendees leaked to the press about a specific detail,” Martin wrote in the officewide email that CNN obtained. “This is personally insulting, of course, and professionally unacceptable. If you are the person or person who leaked, feel free to contact me directly.”

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