Top DC Prosecutor Likens Jan. 6 Cases to Japanese Internment (1)

Washington’s lead prosecutor announced his investigation into Capitol riot prosecutions has “expanded in scope” and compared the government’s use of an obstruction statute against rioters to Japanese internment.

Ed Martin, interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, told staff in an officewide email Friday that the office has “been asked” to probe leaks that he said took place during Jan. 6 cases and damaged parties, witnesses, and law enforcement officers, as part of his internal investigation into certain prosecutions of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

“It was bad all around,” he wrote in the email, obtained by Bloomberg Law. He added that one “participant” compared the media’s coverage of the cases to the “frenzy for attention” around the OJ Simpson trial.

Martin also said he continues to look into why the obstruction law was used in “so many” Capitol riot prosecutions and has “contacted lawyers, staff and judges” for their feedback.

The Supreme Court ruled last year to narrow prosecutors’ use of the law, known as 1512 and passed in the wake of the Enron scandal to target evidence destruction, in Jan. 6 cases.

One of the people contacted “called the bi-partisan rejection of the 1512 charge the ‘greatest failure of legal judgement since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps - and seized their property,’” Martin wrote in the email. “I agree and that’s why we continue to look at who ordered the 1512 and why. A lot to do.”

The reference to internment comes as the Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, used to justify the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.

Jonathan Hooks “remains” a co-chair of the office’s internal investigation, according to the email. Hooks is the chief of the fraud and public corruption section, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Martin, a “Stop the Steal” organizer who defended Jan. 6 participants in court, previously told staff he was investigating the use of the federal obstruction statute in Jan. 6 prosecutions, which were spearheaded by the Washington US attorney’s office, and instructed staff to preserve related records.

Failure to be proactive about this will be viewed as “insubordinate,” he told staff in a January email. Martin also oversaw the firings of more than a dozen prosecutors from his office who handled Jan. 6 cases shortly after he took over.

Martin, now leading the office in an acting capacity, is currently awaiting Senate confirmation to be US attorney. He has faced criticism by congressional Democrats for his past advocacy for Jan. 6 participants and removals of career leaders at the office during his tenure.

Senate Judiciary Democrats called on Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) earlier this week to take the unusual step of holding a hearing on Martin’s nomination so they can question him under oath.