American Oversight Sues DOJ Over Failure to Expedite Records Requests on Trump’s DOJ “Chief Enforcer” Ed Martin

Wednesday, American Oversight filed suit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) after the agency refused to grant expedited processing for multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking communications, directives, and text messages involving Ed Martin, the DOJ’s pardon attorney and Weaponization Working Group director. Martin’s controversial tenure in these roles reportedly includes involvement in bringing charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, among others.

The requests — submitted in the wake of explosive allegations that Martin has concealed or destroyed official communications to hide the Weaponization Working Group’s activities — concern urgent threats to the integrity of federal law enforcement. Martin has been characterized as the “chief enforcer” of President Trump’s political agenda within the DOJ. 

“The public can’t trust a justice system that lets powerful officials operate in the shadows, leaving no record of how they use — or increasingly abuse — their authority,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “If Ed Martin is hiding or destroying government records to conceal a campaign of political retribution, it isn’t simply a process concern — it’s a threat to the rule of law itself.  The Justice Department must stop stalling and release these records immediately so the American people can see the truth for themselves.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to compel the DOJ to grant expedited processing and produce all responsive, non-exempt records. Our FOIA requests were submitted late last month after Rep. Jamie Raskin revealed credible allegations that Martin has used personal devices and autodeleting messaging applications like Signal to conceal communications related to the Weaponization Working Group — conduct that, if true, would violate federal records laws and obstruct public oversight. The DOJ either denied or failed to respond to each of our nine FOIA requests for expedited processing, leading to today’s lawsuit.

Late last month, following news of the allegations, we sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Acting Archivist Marco Rubio demanding urgent action to recover any missing records and prevent further destruction.

Martin has become a central figure in the administration’s efforts to relitigate the 2020 election, including reportedly sending a letter demanding immediate access to more than 148,000 absentee ballots cast in Georgia’s Fulton County — a request celebrated by some of the nation’s leading election conspiracy theorists. His supposed inquiry, amplified by election deniers, has been cited as evidence that the DOJ is working hand-in-hand with activists promoting debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia.

Earlier this year, Martin oversaw a sweeping purge of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, demoting top career prosecutors who handled cases against Trump’s closest advisers and Jan. 6 conspirators. He previously cast himself — and other federal prosecutors — as the president’s personal lawyer, abandoning the role of independent officers sworn to uphold the Constitution. After a brief stint as interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., in early 2025 — a role for which he ultimately failed to secure Senate confirmation — Martin moved to the DOJ headquarters and assumed several senior positions, including director of the department’s newly-created Weaponization Working Group.

Launched in February, the Weaponization Working Group was tasked with reviewing the conduct of federal agencies over the prior four years to identify actions it claimed may have been driven by political or otherwise improper motives rather than legitimate law enforcement objectives. In practice, the Working Group quickly undertook investigations targeting figures who had previously held Trump and his allies to account, including former FBI Director Comey; New York Attorney General James, who secured a major mortgage fraud judgment against the Trump Organization; and Senator Adam Schiff, a key member of the House committee that investigated Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection.