Acting DC US Attorney Calls Jan. 6 Case Review Leak ‘Insulting’

The interim top US prosecutor for the District of Columbia said those who don’t cooperate with an inquiry into certain Jan. 6 prosecutions will be viewed as “insubordinate,” an email obtained by Bloomberg Law showed.

Trump appointee Ed Martin criticized leaked emails from his office, describing them as “personally insulting,” in an office-wide email on Tuesday after news reports said he planned an internal review of some Capitol riot prosecutions involving an obstruction statute.

“Wow, what a disappointment to have my email yesterday to all of you was leaked almost immediately. Again, personally insulting and professionally unacceptable. I guess I have learned my lesson (“Fool me once…"),” Martin wrote.

Martin also mentioned former federal prosecutor Ashley Akers, who has appeared on cable news programs speaking critically about recent firings at the US attorney’s office and about the handling of Jan. 6 cases after leaving her position on Jan. 24.

“Someone named Ashley Akkers has been going on television badmouthing our work (and me!). I have never met her so I find her comments disconnected from reality—not a credit to our office,” he wrote. He added he “will be reaching out to her” and “will see if we can help her.”

Martin also said he wanted to ensure the office had “her records and emails especially regarding the 1512 Project,” a reference to the obstruction statute, 1512(c), that was used in Jan. 6 prosecutions before the Supreme Court narrowed its use last year.

Akers declined to comment. A spokesperson for the D.C. US Attorney’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.

Martin, previously an advocate for Jan. 6 defendants, is opening an internal inquiry into the use of that obstruction statute in those cases, Bloomberg News and other outlets reported.

Martin said in the email that “you are all responsible to pull your work related to 1512 in any case or matter as I instructed.”

“Please be proactive—if you have nothing, tell the co-chairs. Failure to do so strikes me as insubordinate,” he wrote. He also previewed a “preliminary report” coming Jan. 31 about “what resources we have to review and who did or did not comply.”

Martin was tapped last week to lead the D.C. office, which handled over 1,500 prosecutions related to the riot aimed at overturning certification of the 2020 election lost by President Donald Trump.

Martin spent his first week on the job requesting dismissals of Jan. 6 cases after Trump issued a proclamation broadly pardoning the majority of defendants.