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Exclusive – Ed Martin Assumes Powerful DOJ Role: ‘Greatest Job I Could Ever Envision’ to Target Weaponization

Ed Martin has a message for the forces who blocked his nomination for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia: Be careful what you wish for.

A group of establishment senators, led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), blocked President Donald Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. Attorney (USA) for the District of Columbia – an incredibly powerful post with a crucial role in Trump’s America First Agenda.

But don’t cry for Martin. Trump has appointed him to a powerful new role within the Department of Justice, which he detailed on Breitbart News Saturday with host Matt Boyle.

“It’s classic Donald Trump, right? That somebody tries to block him and block his pick, and he decides to double down,” Martin told Boyle. “This is probably the greatest job I could ever envision.”

Trump announced Martin’s new role in a Truth Social post Thursday:

Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney, and will be moving to the Department of Justice as the new Director of the Weaponization Working Group, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Pardon Attorney. In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims. Congratulations Ed!

Martin is not wasting time.

“Attorney General Bondi gave us marching orders when she got in, and we have a working group that’s already been meeting,” Martin told Boyle, saying the group “is already overwhelmed with the amount of work to do. There’s no limit to what the Biden administration was doing.”

Investigating the weaponization of government and serving as pardon attorney to aid those harmed by the weaponization fit together perfectly, Martin believes.

“We saw the government used against the citizens. One of the things we have to do is get the citizens back to where they should be, and that’s going to include some people that need pardons, right?” he told Boyle, singling out those targeted on January 6, pro-life advocates, and law enforcement officers as some of those targeted by weaponization.

Trump installed Martin as interim USA for DC to jump-start the work of the crucial office. USA offices usually take time to build momentum in new administrations, Martin explained.

“From the beginning, classic President Trump, he has a vision, right?” Martin explained. “In Washington, DC, you couldn’t do what we usually do. What you usually do is you nominate a US attorney, and it takes three or four or five or six months, and the first three or four or five or six months, you’ve got an acting – someone who’s not invested … President Trump put me in on day one and said, ‘Go and fight today and fight like hell, so that we can make this thing work,’ and then, if I get confirmed, fine, if you don’t get confirmed, well, we’ll keep working on other stuff.”

Despite Tillis torpedoing Trump’s pick, Martin is proud of the “monstrous success” in reorienting the office in a short time, rare for an interim USA.

“After all the politicization of the office, we turn to fighting crime – 25% drop in crime in 100 days, that’s what we did,” Martin said.

He has confidence his replacement as interim USA for D.C. will continue his work.

“Be careful what you hope for guys, because Judge Jeanine Pirro is my replacement, and I don’t know if you’ve ever met her – she’s smart as hell, she’s tough as hell, and she’s not at the point in her career where she needs anybody’s approval,” Martin said, touting her desire and ability to continue the office’s new direction with the same fervency.

Martin explained the success his office achieved and its role in Trump’s first 100 days as well as the office’s unique role among all USA offices – and why powerful forces did not want him there.

“The office is a great place to do the right thing,” Martin said. “You ask why people are nervous. They’re nervous because if you’re not afraid of the swamp, they suddenly realize, ‘This guy might not be afraid of the swamp. We better try to trade this guy out.’”

Now Martin will have an even higher perch from which to pursue his passion – exposing and fighting the weaponization of the government against its own citizens.

Boyle pointed out that much of the “weaponization and the rot, the politicization at the Department of Justice really goes back even further than the Biden administration” – particularly to Barack Obama’s administration, and asserted that Martin has his work cut out for him in his new role.

Martin is eager to take on tasks of investigations, prosecutions, and reforms.

“American justice, at its best, and best in our history, is about the truth, which needs to be out there,” he told Boyle. “It’s about accountability, which needs to be attained, and it’s about healing, helping the people that were damaged. And so we got to do all three of those.”

Crossfire Hurricane documents are finally being revealed, Martin said. And he is turning his attention to Russiagate as well, insisting Americans should know “why and how in our national intelligence classification system, [we] allow 51 intelligence officers to sign a lie.”

But that’s the tip of the iceberg, with Martin praising Bondi for her work so far with the Herculean tasks of investigating the countless issues of weaponization.

“We’ve seen athletes being targeted. Pro-life being targeted. Jack Smith being out of control. January 6, being destructive on citizens,” he ticked off. “We have a list that we were charged with from Attorney General Bondi that we’re working through now. The list is going to expand, because the president knows, like I do, that weaponization didn’t stop with any single list.”

Martin will pursue the evidence wherever it takes him in his pursuit of truth.

“We’ve got to get to the weaponization everywhere it is,” he said, promising to pursue “the truth, complete exposure – not spin, not Liz Cheney, select committee of propaganda. Total truth.”

He’s locked in on holding accountable those taking part in the government’s role in the COVID conspiracy too.

“I’ve been working already in my office with Bobby Kennedy on COVID,” Martin told Boyle. “There were so many lies told to us on COVID. And again, we’re going to get the truth out, and we’re going to find out who did what, when. And look, Fauci was pardoned, but not everybody around Fauci was pardoned. So we’re going to see who did what, and we’re going to, again, tell the truth, get it out there, hold them accountable, and then help people that were damaged to heal and get pardoned if they need to.”

Martin’s enthusiasm for the new role is clear. And with a man known in Washington and beyond for enthusiasm for his work, that’s bad news for anyone in his sights.

“It’s a great time to be alive,” Martin said. “There’s a lot at stake, and I’m excited to be given a chance to do this with — for President Trump and with these great people in the government.”

That’s good news for American taxpayers, and trouble for anyone who exploits them.

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.



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VIDEO: NY AG Letitia James Claims Trump Is Having Her Watched

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) recently claimed that President Donald Trump has ordered people to watch her house, the New York Post reported on Saturday.

While speaking during a rally at Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in Harlem on May 3, James said there was a “bias” against women that Sharpton had mentioned. She then launched into a rant about Trump.

James stated:

And it’s this bias of low expectations. And it’s this bias that somehow women cannot be strong enough and go toe-to-toe against these, this president of these United States. And I stand before you as someone who deals with him each and every day. In fact, he knows my name personally. Between me and Jasmine Crockett and Letitia James. In fact, he knows me so well he… they’re trying to attack me.

They’ve got individuals coming to my house, standing outside my house. Last Sunday, church Sunday, while I was in church, these individuals were in front of my house taking pictures. And then streaming it, putting it on social media.

This is nothing more than a revenge tour. This is nothing more than vindictiveness! This is nothing more than a individual who’s upset at me because we secured a $454 million judgment against him and his family and his company [sic].

In April, the Trump administration referred James for potential prosecution regarding alleged mortgage fraud, Breitbart News reported:

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte sent a criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, stating that James had ‘falsified records’ to get home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed served as a her ‘principal residence’ in 2023. At the same time, she served as a New York state prosecutor.

The alleged falsification occurred right before James started a civil fraud trial against Trump, Breitbart News noted at the time. James claimed Trump and the Trump Organization overinflated values of some of their properties. Her trial against them resulted in a $454 million judgement, but Trump is appealing.

In February 2024, Breitbart News’ Joel B. Pollak wrote that “a review of 70 years of legal history by the Associated Press showed no precedent whatsoever for suing an entrepreneur or business for allegedly inflating real estate values when there was no victim that suffered any damage.”

“Indeed, the record suggests that James held Trump to different rules,” he added.

Now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into James over her alleged mortgage fraud.

Meanwhile, James said recently that her office was “ready on day one” to file lawsuits against Trump.

At the event on May 3, James did not say if she believes she is being followed at her home in Brooklyn or the property she owns in Virginia, the Post article said.

“She declined through a spokesperson to say which social media posts she was referring to or expand on her remarks,” the newspaper noted.

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Thune: ‘I Don’t Want to See Taxes Go Up’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he did not want to see taxes go up on anybody when asked about President Donald Trump’s comments on taxes.

On Truth Social Trump posted, “The problem with even a “TINY” tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming,“Read my lips,” the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!”

Host Joe Kernen said, “The president wants to help, I think working class people look at the tariffs, look at all these things. The case could be made that maybe some redistribution or some movement on on who pays the lion’s share of taxes, maybe you could reallocate some. Is this the right way to do it?”

Thune said, “I don’t want to see taxes go up on anybody. We’re all about lowering taxes, not raising taxes. But I do think the president, he’s not a conventional president. People didn’t vote for a conventional president and I think his policies reflect that.”

He added, “I think that the people around him understand what he’s trying to achieve here. And that is if you look at what he’s proposing, there’s particular emphasis on working Americans.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN



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Dem Rep. Garcia: ‘Shameful’ Trump Administration Arrested Newark Mayor

Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) said Friday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the Trump administration’s arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center was “shameful.”

Guest host Antonia Hylton said, “I need to ask you two, if you’ve seen the images coming out of Newark, of the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka, and some of your colleagues were there on the ground with him in this incredible scene. You know, we see a congressman right there in the center, sort of stuck in, in this tug of war with officials on the ground there. What’s your reaction to this and what his arrest represents?”

Garcia said, “This is completely shameful and outrageous. Members of Congress have a right to visit these facilities. It happens all the time. And for this to happen to the mayor and to colleagues, people, all of which I know and respect — is a dark, dark day for our country. Members of Congress have the right to do oversight and to visit these facilities.”

He added, “Kristi Noem, the secretary who oversees Homeland Security, is creating her own immigration laws. She’s not following the Constitution. They’re deporting people that don’t have any right to due process, and they’re sending people to these facilities that essentially have gotten no day in court. They have had their due process stripped from them. And so we’ve got to speak up. It is unconscionable that the mayor would get arrested this way. So we are going to call this out. Secretary Noem will be in front of our committee on Homeland Security this week. You can rest assured that she will be asked the tough questions about how this happened to the members of Congress and the mayor.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN



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King: Public Broadcasting needs a shake-up

The animus that has led President Trump to order an end to federal funding of PBS and NPR isn’t new. Public broadcasting has been an irritant to conservatives for a long time.

Conservatives say public broadcasters are biased against them, especially PBS; they are a kind of ground zero for all things “woke”; and they don’t deserve one penny of public money.

My friend and colleague, Adam Clayton Powell III, who has worked in commercial and public television and was the first vice president of news at NPR in the 1980s, thinks that some of the old rigor about being even-handed may have “fallen away.”

What I think has happened — and conservative critics see this as bias — is that programming reflecting a humanitarian concern about minorities, about the left-out, and about those who are without, rose in volume. That has led to the impression of public broadcasting being left-of-center.

Full disclosure: Since 1997, I have produced and hosted “White House Chronicle,” a weekly news and public affairs show which airs on some PBS stations and is available to all PBS stations via the PBS satellite.

As an independent producer, I don’t receive funding from PBS.

I don’t think PBS and NPR need to be defunded, but they need to be taken by the lapels and shaken. They can be as tired as they are self-regarding.

I once asked an important PBS executive why there wasn’t more original, creative drama on PBS. The executive shot back, “It would cost too much money.”

PBS is dominated by the shows it buys from Britain. The best of PBS is British, either from the BBC or the commercial channels, which go under the rubric of ITV.

The most successful PBS show recently, “Downton Abbey,” came from ITV. PBS also seems to have an endless need to tell us all that is known about the history of the English royal families.

What is lacking at PBS is creativity.

It is time for public broadcasting to think beyond its self-imposed creative chastity. A fear of commercialism pervades PBS and NPR. It is written into their protocols.

Powell suggested on a current episode of “White House Chronicle,” which he co-hosts, that public broadcasters might look at what William Paley, who built CBS, did in its radio days before television.

Paley, noting that NBC had all the talent and all the income, went to top stars of the day, like Jack Benny, Bing Crosby and Red Skelton, and said he would let them control and produce their shows on CBS, and, at the end of the runs, they would own their material free and clear.

It changed the fortunes of CBS.

If PBS produced great entertainment programs, it could sell them worldwide, as the BBC does. Two documentary series, “Frontline” and “Nova,” produced by Boston’s WGBH, show that PBS can reach its high when it seeks to do so.

Great entertainment might not be enough income to solve all its problems, but at least it would open up a new revenue stream.

At the end of the day, what public broadcasting needs is to be known as a creative hub: the first place for new ideas, performers and writers.

Llewellyn King is the executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS/InsideSources

 

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Ken Griffin Says International Graduates Should Automatically Receive Visas

Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, speaks at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference on May 6, 2024. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin urged the U.S. government to modernize its immigration policies by granting visas to international students graduating from American universities, arguing the country must do more to retain top talent. Speaking at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Beverly Hills on May 7, the billionaire hedge fund manager emphasized the economic imperative of welcoming high-skilled immigrants.

“It should literally be if you graduate from one of America’s great universities, great graduate schools, you just get a visa stamp to your degree—and, frankly, a ‘welcome to America,’” said Griffin, a prominent Republican donor.

Currently, international students are only authorized to stay in the U.S. for a limited period of time (in most cases, one year) after graduation unless they land a full-time job that sponsors a work visa. Griffin’s suggestion also came as the Trump administration abruptly revoked thousands of student visas last month, although many have since been restored

Last year, while on the campaign trial, Donald Trump said on a podcast that international students should be granted permanent residence after graduating. His campaign later walked back those remarks, clarifying that only “the most skilled graduates” would be allowed to remain in the U.S. following “the most aggressive vetting process in U.S. history.”

Griffin, who has an estimated net worth of $43 billion, noted that a large portion of America’s “human capital” is made up of immigrants and praised the “grit and determination” demonstrated by those who leave their home countries behind for the U.S.

“We’re not doing enough to make access to staying in America either easy or preferred for so many of these students,” he said.

Despite broad agreement among lawmakers, Griffin expressed frustration at the lack of progress on the issue. “That one befuddles me because if I meet with members of the House or Senate, they almost always agree with that statement,” he said. “I do not understand our unwillingness to embrace a path to citizenship for those who come here for their education.”

Griffin has spoken out in favor of immigration reform before. In November, he criticized Trump’s proposal to deport all undocumented immigrants and called instead for a more “thoughtful” approach. Earlier that month, he said that the U.S. should make it easier for the “best and brightest” to remain in the country, noting that many of Citadel’s top executives are immigrants who have found success in America.



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Wildland firefighting crews left short-staffed by DOGE ahead of wildfire season

Trump administration funding cuts and a loss of federal workers who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington state and Oregon.

The biggest issue they’re facing is a lack of communication from the federal government as the West faces “a pretty significant wildland fire season,” Washington State Forester George Geissler said Thursday during a press conference hosted by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

“This is the time when we make certain that we have the aviation we need, when we have the personnel we need and that all of our systems check out and are ready to go when the alarm bell rings,” he said. “Without knowing what our partners are doing or not having a clear understanding of what actions are being taken, we struggle with missing the third leg of the stool that we have.”

The Forest Service workforce was cut in February during Elon Musk’s push to reduce federal spending as part of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. At least 1,000 National Park Service workers were let go. A court order to rehire fired workers, along with a public outcry brought many workers back to their jobs, but Murray and fire officials say it wasn’t enough. Plus, the lost of experienced, trained workers set the process back.

“We’re hearing that don’t worry, we are going to hire frontline people,” Murray said. “You just let a whole bunch of frontline people go.”

“Funding is not in jeopardy”

A spokesperson with the Department of Interior, which oversees National Parks and other public lands, said “funding is not in jeopardy.” They’re supporting firefighting efforts by increasing pay for federal and tribal wildland firefighters across the U.S.

The administration has refused to release the exact number of fired and rehired workers, but numbers are coming in from individual forests, she said.

“I’ve heard of at least 35 people at Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, 46 at Okanagan-Wenatchee, 21 at Colville, 15 at Gifford-Pinchot, and more at the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Olympic National Forest and Methow Valley,” she said. “Here’s the thing, nearly every single Forest Service employee supports fire operations in some capacity.”

Fire Chief Leonard Johnson, with the McLane Black Fire Department in Washington state, said they may line up aviation support and heavy equipment, but it takes trained firefighters to put the fires out.

“We have a high reliance on that workforce out there,” he said. “Not only at the local level, at the state level, but at the federal level to make our wildfire season successful to deal with those large fires. People are the critical component in all of this.”

National Forest workers reduced by thousands

Merkley said Trump’s budget proposal cuts forest and watershed management programs that improve forest conditions, eliminates a collaborative forest landscape restoration program and slashes 2,000 National Forest positions, on top of the thousands who left through early retirement, buyouts and layoffs.

Most of those workers may not have the title “firefighter” but they all hold Red Cards – which shows they have special training to provide essential frontline support to firefighting crews, Murray said.

“In fact, around three quarters of forest service workers are trained in wild land firefighting,” she said. “They provide crucial surge capacity when a crisis strikes.”

Trail maintenance crews ensure the paths are clear for firefighting personnel and equipment, Murray said. Biologists conduct testing to make decisions about prescribed burns and fuel reduction planning.

“We are here today to pull the fire alarm, and we’re gonna set off some sirens,” she said. “We’re going to keep focused on this, and we are gonna keep pushing back. There is just too much at stake to do anything less.”

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What to know as Trump hints at 80% China tariff



What to know as Trump hints at 80% China tariff – CBS News










































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President Trump appeared to give his treasury secretary his starting point in trade talks with Beijing set for this weekend. Weeks after imposing a 145% tariff on China, the president posted, “80-percent tariff on China seems right.” Kelly O’Grady explains.

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15 states sue over Trump’s move to fast-track oil and gas projects

Over a dozen largely Democratic states are suing President Trump’s administration over his efforts to fast-track energy projects, saying the administration is bypassing environmental protection laws.

Mr. Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” on the first day of his presidency — part of Mr. Trump’s push to expand U.S. oil and gas production. The order urges oil and gas expansion through federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity.

Those kinds of steps are supposed to be reserved for actual emergencies, such as projects needed in the aftermath of disasters like hurricanes, flooding or major oil spills, the attorneys general wrote in the lawsuit filed in Washington state Friday.

But now, the 15 plaintiff states allege, agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior are bypassing required reviews under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. The states argue an improper permitting process “will result in significant and irreparable harm to state natural and historic resources and the people and biota that rely on those resources for drinking, farming, recreating, and habitat.”

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers pushed back on the lawsuit in a statement to CBS News.

“The President of the United States has the authority to determine what is a national emergency, not state attorneys or the courts. President Trump recognizes that unleashing American energy is crucial to both our economic and national security,” Rogers wrote.

The attorneys general who are suing the government said they believe reliable and affordable electricity is of critical importance to the nation, but energy production is already at an all-time high.

“The Executive Order is unlawful, and its commands that federal agencies disregard the law and in many cases their own regulations to fast-track extensive categories of activities will result in damage to waters, wetlands, critical habitat, historic and cultural resources, endangered species, and the people and wildlife that rely on these precious resources,” they wrote in the lawsuit.

“The shortcuts inherent in rushing through emergency processes fundamentally undermine the rights of States,” the attorneys general said, noting that the federal Clean Water Act grants states the right to protect water quality within their own borders.

They want a federal judge to declare the executive order unlawful and bar the agencies from pursuing emergency permitting for non-emergency projects.

“Just another unlawful directive from the President, this time acting well beyond the scope of his emergency powers,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the suit.

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Mexico says it’s suing Google for labeling Gulf of Mexico as Trump-preferred Gulf of America

Mexico is suing tech giant Google for labeling the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for U.S. users, after President Trump ordered the U.S. government to change the body of water’s name, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.

Sheinbaum announced the lawsuit in her daily press briefing, but did not provide details on the suit.

Mexico’s foreign relations ministry had previously sent letters to Google asking it not to label Mexican territorial waters as the Gulf of America. Mexico argues the new label should only apply to the part of the Gulf over the United States’ continental shelf.

In February, Sheinbaum shared a letter from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, stating that Google will not change the policy it outlined after Mr. Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as Gulf of America within the United States, as Gulf of Mexico within Mexico and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere. Turner in his letter said the company was using Gulf of America to follow “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS News.

Mr. Trump signed an executive order to change the body of water’s name to the Gulf of America — and change the Alaskan mountain Denali’s name back to Mount McKinley — shortly after taking office. The Interior Department later formally renamed the gulf.

The executive order only carries authority within the U.S., and Mexico and other countries do not need to recognize the name change. The U.S. and Mexico both have coastlines along the Gulf, and a State Department report from the 1970s said the maritime boundary between the two countries begins at the center of the mouth of the Rio Grande and runs in a fixed line. 

Still, Mr. Trump and his allies have pushed for wider adoption of the Gulf of America name.

The House on Thursday passed a bill that sought to codify the name change and direct federal agencies to update their maps accordingly, with almost all Republicans voting in favor. Meanwhile, the Trump administration restricted Associated Press reporters’ access to some White House spaces after the outlet chose not to follow the name change, though a federal judge ordered the government to restore access.

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