The Trump administration’s top prosecutor for Washington, DC, spoke last month at a Florida fundraiser, where he criticized the Justice Department’s prosecutions of people involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress. The speech was attended by numerous January 6 defendants, including former members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia who are still appealing their seditious conspiracy convictions in cases overseen by the DC United States Attorney’s Office.
In his keynote address at the event, acting US Attorney Ed Martin compared the prosecution of pro-Trump insurrectionists to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, and argued Americans would soon come to see the Capitol riot prosecutions similarly. “I hope, in not too short a time that the people who did this to so many people over the last four years will similarly—I hope God gives them shame—but I hope that the culture recognizes…that this was a wrong that was done against American citizens,” he said. “It was done not because of well intentions or anything. It was done truly because of bad, of evil in the world.”
“I hope God gives them shame.”
The March 24 fundraiser was held in Naples, and hosted by the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a conservative group Martin ran from 2016 until January, when he joined the administration. Cynthia Hughes, founder of the Patriot Freedom Project, which has provided financial support to January 6 defendants, helped organize the luncheon. Martin was also extensively involved in that organization, and served on its board until January.
Attendees at the event included Kelly Meggs—the former head of the Oath Keepers’ Florida chapter, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in the wake of the Capitol attack—and his wife Connie, who was also convicted of crimes related to the attack. Joseph Hackett, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy, and Kenneth Harrelson, who was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other felonies related to January 6, also attended, according to pictures attendees posted online. Both Hackett and Harrelson were once members of the Oath Keepers.
While President Donald Trump pardoned around 1,600 convicted or accused Capitol attackers in January, Meggs, Harrelson, and Hackett are among 14 members of far-right groups who did not receive pardons. Instead, Trump commuted their sentences, freeing them from prison without expunging their felony convictions. The men are continuing to appeal those convictions, and Martin’s office is in charge of defending the guilty verdicts—even as Martin appears alongside some of the defendants in a smiling photo from the fundraiser.
Martin’s appearance at the Florida event is in some ways unsurprising. He is a diehard Trump supporter and former Stop the Steal organizer who has blamed the January 6 attack on “antifa.” While working as a lawyer for January 6 defendants, Martin called for Capitol rioters to receive “reparations” and suggested some officials involved in their prosecution should be jailed. As acting US attorney, Martin, who Trump has nominated to fill the position permanently, has fired and demoted prosecutors who brought January 6 cases. He has opened an internal investigation into attorneys in his office who pursued obstruction charges against Capitol rioters that were later thrown out by the Supreme Court. And Martin’s public threats to weaponize the DOJ against critics of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have made it clear that he is eager to use his office to advance Trump’s agenda.
But a sitting US Attorney publicly attacking his own prosecutors while appearing alongside insurrectionists may be a new extreme step—even for Martin—one that, according to ethics watchdogs, could create an appearance of a conflict of interest.
“It’s unusual—maybe unprecedented—for the US attorney to be associating himself with people who have been convicted of federal crimes,” said Michael Teter, the managing director of The 65 Project, a group that has filed bar complaints against lawyers who helped Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including Martin. “It’s a demonstration that Mr. Martin doesn’t take his oath and his responsibility seriously.”
Federal regulations that apply to the DOJ forbid government employees from participating in fundraisers in their official capacity “unless authorized by statute, executive order, regulation or agency determination.” A spokesperson for Martin’s office declined to say if he received clearance to speak at the event, which cost $50 per ticket, from anyone at the DOJ.
While the event was set to raise money for Phyllis Schlafly Eagles programming for college students, an invitation posted on the organization’s website promised the event would feature an “urgent update from January 6 defendants” and repeatedly referred to Martin by his official title—“U.S. Attorney Ed Martin.” The invitation noted that he had been “tapped by the Trump Administration to be the top attorney” in DC. “From cleaning up political corruption to sweeping crime out of D.C., Ed is doing great work and making big waves for truth and justice,”
While Justice Department rules permit employees to engage in fundraising in their “personal capacity,” they are not allowed to use their “official title or position” and cannot solicit donations from “persons having business with the department”—a designation that attorneys familiar with department practices said would apply to the Oath Keepers appealing their convictions who attended the fundraiser.
Meggs, Harrelson, and Hackett did not respond to questions, including about whether they paid to attend the fundraiser. Carolyn Stewart, an attorney representing Meggs, said she believed that her client and other January 6 defendants present had been gifted tickets, and sat at tables Hughes’ group had paid for. Hughes did not respond to questions. Stewart, who did not attend the lunch, said her understanding was that Martin “did not talk to Kelly Meggs or Ken Harrelson about their cases.”
Delaney Marsco, director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group, said regardless of the details of the event, Martin’s involvement risked creating at least the appearance of a conflict, which federal ethics policies aim to prevent. “Government work is supposed to be impartial,” Marsco said. “We are supposed to trust that officials are working on the public’s interest and not their own personal, political or financial interests.”
Guests at the Naples event constituted a who’s who of MAGA figures accused of crimes. Speakers included Douglass Mackey, who was sentenced to seven months in prison in 2023 for disseminating fake messages that encouraged Hillary Clinton supporters to “vote” via text message in 2016. Prosecutors alleged that Mackey—who used the pseudonym “Ricky Vaughn”— and others “conspired to use Twitter to trick American citizens into thinking they could vote by text and stay at home on Election Day—thereby suppressing and injuring those citizens’ right to vote.” According to court documents, Mackey had written on social media that “women are children with the right to vote” and that “Black people will believe anything they read ok twitter, and we let them vote why?”
Mackey, who declined to comment, is appealing his conviction. Though that appeal is not in Martin’s district, the presence of both men at the fundraiser still poses a problem, according to Teter. “It’s the United States of America v. Mackey. So a US attorney should not be associating with him,” Teter said.
“I’m very optimistic that attorney Ed Martin here and the whole weaponization committee can take a look at my case.”
In his own remarks in Naples, Mackey baldly sought Martin’s help. Trump had singled out Mackey’s case in a day one executive order purporting to combat “weaponization of the federal government” under the Biden administration. Martin’s US attorney office is involved in a DOJ task force launched in response to that order. “I’m very optimistic that attorney Ed Martin here and the whole weaponization committee can take a look at my case and see what went on there,” Mackey said.
Martin, in turn, praised Mackey as “a leader of people who see what happens and want to do something about it.”
Also present was Michael Curzio, a January 6 convict who previously spent eight years in prison for attempted first degree murder—”a crime which, according to local news reports from Florida, involved him shooting the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend in the chest,” federal prosecutors stated. In prison, he joined a white supremacist gang, and he “bears tattoos with Nazi imagery,” according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
In an interview Thursday, Curzio acknowledged joining the gang, but he said that he did so only for his own safety while behind bars and that he is not racist. “I did what I had to do to survive,” he said. Curzio said he did “nothing wrong” on January 6 and had merely “walked through an open door” at the Capitol.
Martin spoke at the event after Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a New Jersey man known for once styling his moustache like Hitler’s and who, prosecutors charged, allegedly told a coworker that “Hitler should have finished the job.” In a letter Wednesday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee faulted Martin’s association with Hale-Cusanelli, who they said has a “well-known history of antisemitism, misogyny, and racism.” Democrats noted a September event in which the two men appeared together, but were apparently unaware of the March fundraiser; Hale-Cusanelli didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Hale-Cusanelli was convicted in 2022 on January 6-related charges that included having ordered others to “advance” on the Capitol. He was one of the first rioters to enter the building, according to prosecutors.
In recent months, Hale-Cusanelli has enthusiastically touted Martin’s efforts to help January 6 prisoners. “If you’re a January 6 defendant, and your prosecutor hasn’t been fired by next week, message me,” Hale-Cusanelli posted on X February 1. A week later, he followed up: “If you’re a January 6 defendant please name your prosecutor(s) here.”
“Led by the current US attorney, we’re starting to see a vast restoration of the truth, which is that January 6 defendants were not criminals.”
In his remarks in Naples, Hale-Cusanelli argued that American values were under attack until Trump “took back the throne, so to speak.” He showered praise on Martin. “For those that aren’t familiar, January 6 was an absolute set up,” Hale-Cusanelli said. “January 6 was a psy-op led by three-letter agencies.”
“Led by the current US attorney,” Hale continued, “we’re starting to see a vast restoration of the truth, which is that January 6 defendants were not criminals, they were in fact the victims…And we will expose these nefarious actors who set us up in the first place.”
When he took the podium, Martin did not contest those claims. He praised Trump for pardoning January 6 defendants, as well as two DC police officers in an unrelated case. And he referred cryptically to ongoing efforts by his office to look into “a lot of stuff related to January 6th,” though he added that he would avoid revealing details “to be careful.”
“In terms of getting to the bottom of what’s gone on in our country that’s off kilter, there’s no ending,” Martin said. “No one’s resting on that at this point, and there’s a lot more happening.”
Martin’s nomination to be formally confirmed as DC’s US attorney faces heavy opposition from Democrats, and has even raised concerns among some GOP senators. This week, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he would put a hold on Martin’s nomination, as Democrats push for Martin to face a contentious confirmation hearing—an unusual step for any potential US Attorney.
But Martin’s courtship of January 6 rioters while serving as interim prosecutor may be helping him consolidate far-right backing. His remarks in Naples enthused attendees, including Brenden Dilley, the leader of a right-wing “meme team.” Following the event, Dilley posted a video reworking the Steve Miller Band hit “Fly Like an Eagle” to urge the confirmation of Martin, who uses the X handle “EagleEdMartin.”
Martin also got an assist last week when Elon Musk tweeted, “Confirm Ed Martin,” prompting a ripple effect among the crowd of J6ers and their sympathizers.
On Wednesday, the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles issued a press release attacking Schiff’s hold. “The left…won’t stop the Trump Administration’s will to clean out the Department of Justice,” John Schlafly, the group’s treasurer said. “Ed Martin is at the tip of the spear of that effort.”
This post has been syndicated from Mother Jones, where it was published under this address.