Edward Robert Martin Jr. (born March 19, 1970) is an American conservative activist, politician, and lawyer who has served as the United States pardon attorney since May 2025. He previously served as interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia from January to May 2025, appointed by President Donald Trump. He was chair of the Missouri Republican Party from 2013 to 2015.
Martin has a history of incendiary claims and legal and ethical controversies. The Untold Story of How Ed Martin Ghostwrote Online Attacks Against a Judge — and Still Became a Top Trump Prosecutor, ProPublica 24 April, 2025 What to know about Ed Martin, the right-wing activist Trump tapped to be DC’s top prosecutor, CNN, 19 February 2025 Having worked as an organizer of Stop the Steal rallies, he served as an attorney and advocate for January 6 defendants. He called claims of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and the results of the 2020 United States presidential election "hoaxes". Trump’s D.C. U.S. attorney pick appeared on Russian state media over 150 times, Washington Post 16 April 2025
A member of the Republican Party, Martin served as chief of staff for Missouri Governor Matt Blunt from 2006 until November 2007. He was the party's nominee for Missouri's 3rd congressional district in 2010,Results 2010 Missouri Primaries Wagman, Jake. "St Louis Today" August 4, 2010 losing to incumbent Democrat Russ Carnahan,Cook Report: House GOP majority a possibility Kraushaar, Josh. Politico February 18, 2010. and was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Missouri attorney general in 2012.Martin to run for Mo. Atty. General. Associated Press via Kirksville Daily Express. January 26, 2012 The president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a splinter group from Eagle Forum, Martin served on the 2024 RNC Platform Committee.
In December 2024, Trump announced his intention to nominate Martin for chief of staff for the Office of Management and Budget, before appointing him instead as the interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia in January 2025. This made him the first U.S. attorney for D.C. in at least fifty years to be appointed without experience as a judge or a federal prosecutor. In May 2025, his Senate confirmation appeared unlikely to pass, after Senate Republican Thom Tillis announced his opposition, leaving Martin with too few votes to be reported out of the Judiciary Committee. On May 8, 2025, Trump announced that he would withdraw Martin's nomination, and later that day, he announced Martin was to be replaced as the interim appointee by Jeanine Pirro.
On May 13, 2025, Martin announced he would serve as pardon attorney, vowing to review the Biden administration's outgoing pardons, as well as investigate what he called "weaponization" of the justice system. That month, he was appointed to lead the Weaponization Working Group within the Department of Justice. In February 2026, The Washington Post reported that Martin had been demoted from his post as the working group's chair.
Early life and education Martin was born in New York City on March 19, 1970, the second of three children. He was raised in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a nurse. He graduated from St. Peter's Preparatory School.Wagman, Jake. "Chris Christie hears it — from Ed Martin's mom" , St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 6, 2011. Accessed July 9, 2018. "She questioned why Christie would support Wagner when "Ed is a native born New Jerseyan,' the product of Readington Township Public Schools and St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City."
After high school, Martin graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1992. As an undergraduate, he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study water purification in Indonesia for a year and earned a diploma in Indonesian studies from the University of Washington while studying abroad. After graduation, he was awarded a Rotary Scholarship to study at Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1995.
After finishing postgraduate studies in Rome, Martin attended the Saint Louis University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1998 focusing on health law. As a law student, he attended Catholic Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and began a friendship with cardinal Justin Rigali, who nominated him to serve as a youth representative at the Synod of the Bishops on the Americas. While working as a synod representative, he attended a Thanksgiving dinner with Pope John Paul II in 1997. In 2001, he earned a Master of Arts in healthcare ethics from Saint Louis University.
After law school, Martin worked first as director of the Human Rights Office for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Legal work As an attorney in private practice, Martin specialized in differing commercial and pro bono cases. Martin did legal work for the Institute for Justice, Human Action Network, Bryan Cave, LLP, Americans United for Life, Martin Simmonds, LLC, and formed his own law practice, Ed Martin Law Firm, LLC. In addition, Martin served as law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit under Pasco Bowman II.
In 2005 while working for Americans United for Life, Martin represented two Illinois pharmacists who sought relief from an administrative rule requiring Illinois pharmacists doing public business to dispense a certain contraceptive, levonorgestrel, also known as "Plan B" or the "morning after pill", under the state's health plan. They argued that such distribution violated their religious rights of conscience. Martin appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss the case with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The court sided with Martin and the plaintiffs, agreeing that the Administrative Rule violated the Rights of Conscience Act; it granted the plaintiffs a permanent injunction.
In 2006 while doing pro bono work for the Institute for Justice and the Human Action Network, Martin represented a small business owner who sold caskets and funeral supplies at discounted prices. In an effort to regulate abuses in the funeral business, the State of Missouri required vendors of caskets to have a funeral director's license. Martin and other attorneys argued that the government should not prevent the businessman from selling caskets at a discount and helping people avoid inflated costs of purchasing a casket from funeral homes. Eventually, the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors sided with the small business owner.
Prior to his appointment as interim attorney for the District of Columbia, Martin represented three January 6 defendants, including a member of the Proud Boys who pleaded guilty to felony charges. On January 6, he posted on social media from the Capitol area, describing the crowd as "rowdy" but "nothing out of hand". Before his appointment, Martin had been an active supporter of January 6 defendants as legal counsel. His foundation hosted a 2024 banquet at Trump's Bedminster golf club honoring Nazi sympathizer Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a convicted Capitol riot participant, as an "extraordinary man". In April 2025, he apologized, claiming he was not aware of the full extent of Hale-Cusanelli's views.
Political career In Missouri In 2005, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt appointed Martin as chairman of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners. In August 2006, Blunt appointed Martin as his chief of staff. While serving as Blunt's chief of staff, Martin was linked to the controversial firing of Scott Eckersley, then Deputy General Counsel for Blunt. In the summer of 2007, Martin's office had resisted providing his emails to an investigative reporter from the Springfield (MO) News-Leader, who was investigating whether Martin used his office to influence outside groups against political opponents. Martin claimed there were no emails that pertained to the issue. A Blunt spokesman said the administration did not have a policy of retaining emails, although the state Sunshine Law requiring retention for 3 years is widely known.
The administration claimed it had fired Eckersley because he had violated internal policies. He filed a lawsuit against Martin and Blunt for his firing, saying he had been trying to enforce the state law for retention of emails. Several major media outlets filed suit to gain access to Martin's and other emails of the administration. Martin resigned as chief of staff in November 2007, followed by Blunt's General Counsel, Henry Herschel.
After a year-long battle to gain access, in November 2008, the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch analyzed and reported on 60,000 pages of emails obtained from the administration. They found that Martin had used his state office in 2007 improperly to encourage opposition to Attorney General Jay Nixon among anti-abortion groups, as the Democrat Nixon was likely to oppose Blunt in the next election."The e-mails that brought down a Republican Governor" , November 17, 2008, accessed September 12, 2014 He had also pressured political appointees of state agencies to criticize Nixon's handling of some issues as AG. In addition, the newspapers reported that Martin had encouraged outside groups to oppose the nomination of Patricia Breckenridge to an open seat on the Missouri Supreme Court, although Blunt supported her. On May 22, 2009, the Missouri Attorney General's Office announced that Eckersley's lawsuit against Blunt and others had been settled for $500,000.
In January 2008, Blunt surprised supporters by announcing he would not seek a second term.Associated Press, "Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt Abruptly Decides Not to Seek 2nd Term" , FOX News, January 23, 2008, accessed September 12, 2014 In February 2008 Governor Blunt appointed Martin as a member of the Missouri State Park Advisory Board, a position he held until April 2011.
Following Blunt's leaving office, the state completed its own investigation of possible violations of the Sunshine Law under Blunt and Martin. It found that the governor's office failed to properly disclose Mr. Martin's emails.Chris Blank, AP, "Fired Aide to Blunt Runs for Governor's Dad's Seat" , eMissourian.com, September 2, 2010, accessed September 15, 2014 This investigation, which cost the state $2 million, found that Martin had illegally destroyed some emails, in violation of the state's open government or Sunshine Law."Editorial: Ed Martin finally wins an election, to the shame of the GOP" , St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 8, 2013, accessed September 15, 2014
Advocacy projects American Issues Project In 2008, Martin founded the American Issues Project, a political group financed by Harold Simmons that ran anti-Senator Barack Obama TV ads during the 2008 United States presidential campaign. Martin appeared on The O'Reilly Factor to discuss the group's commercials.
Martin was executive director of the Missouri Club for Growth, a PAC to support certain candidates financially, and president of the Missouri Roundtable for Life, a pro-life, non-profit group. He also founded Term Limits for Missouri in 2010,"Missouri Term Limits Initiative" , Ballope which works to pass laws for term limits on all statewide elective positions in the state.
The Eagle Forum In 2015, Martin was appointed as President of the Eagle Forum, a conservative advocacy group founded by Phyllis Schlafly, though he was removed from the position in 2016. A lawsuit was subsequently filed by a majority of the Eagle Forum's board, including the youngest daughter of Phyllis Schlafly, Anne Schlafly Cori, to bar Martin from any association with the group. During the course of the lawsuit, Martin was found liable for defamation and false light against Cori.