By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The lawyer President Donald Trump tapped to serve as Washington, D.C.’s top prosecutor and then dropped in the face of Senate opposition, said on Wednesday he is facing a professional ethics investigation, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Interim Washington U.S. Attorney Ed Martin said in the letter sent to his staff on his last day on the job that he is under investigation by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The office is in charge of investigating and bringing misconduct proceedings against attorneys in the district.
Martin alleged that Hamilton “Phil” Fox, the attorney investigating his conduct, had breached the confidentiality of the investigation by sharing a copy of the complaint with the department’s Civil Division.
“It is an outrage how they treat us and I will continue the fight against the weaponization of our law licenses against us,” Martin wrote in an email. “I am taking on Mr. Fox head on. His conduct is personally insulting and professionally unacceptable.”
Fox declined to comment on Martin’s claims, citing confidentiality rules.
In the email, Martin attached a copy of a May 9 letter he sent to Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals asking her to investigate and suspend Fox, and to dismiss the complaint filed against him.
Martin’s letter did not specify the nature of the ethics allegations filed against him.
There have been at least five formal ethics complaints filed against Martin that were made public by nonprofit watchdog groups, ethics experts and members of Congress during his brief tenure as interim U.S. attorney.
At least one of those complaints has since been closed, after Fox concluded that Martin did not technically violate disciplinary rules when he filed a motion to dismiss a case against a person charged with taking part in the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol whom he had previously represented in private practice.
A spokesperson for Martin did not immediately comment in response to questions from Reuters.
PIRRO TAKES JOB
Martin’s replacement as interim U.S. attorney, former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro, took over the job on Wednesday, while Martin will now serve as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney and simultaneously preside over the department’s “Weaponization Working Group.”
Martin faced opposition over his conduct in office, political advocacy and support for people who took part in the U.S. Capitol attack.
His tenure was marked by Trump’s sweeping pardons for nearly all of the January 6 participants, firings and demotions of career prosecutors who worked on those investigations and unusual public threats to investigate people – including members of Congress – who have opposed the Trump administration’s agenda.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel only opens formal investigations if an ethics complaint satisfies certain criteria.
Once a case is docketed for investigation, the office submits a copy of the allegations to the subject of the complaint so that the attorney can review it and respond. If the attorney does not respond, the office submits a follow-up letter.
In his letter, Martin said Fox tried on multiple occasions to send him a copy of the complaint, including mailing copies to his home and office. After that, he said Fox emailed a copy to an intake box for the Justice Department’s Civil Division where other employees were able to see it.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Rod Nickel)
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