Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is leading a group of House Democrats in a letter demanding that the Justice Department‘s inspector general look into acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
The Democrats are worried that Bove and Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin have “clear and disqualifying conflicts of interests.”
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“We are all former Department of Justice (DOJ) employees who write to you regarding the clear and disqualifying conflicts of interests that exist among at least two Department employees: Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, and Interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin. Both appear to be taking official actions in matters where they previously represented interested parties, which is a clear violation of DOJ regulations and the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct,” they said.
Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Shomari Figures (D-AL), and Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett joined Goldman on signing the letter.
“We therefore ask that you immediately open an investigation into Mr. Bove and Mr. Martin to
determine the extent of their misconduct, whether DOJ ethics officials were consulted and what
their recommendation was, and whether any disciplinary actions must be undertaken – including
a referral to their bar associations’ disciplinary committees,” they said.
Bove served with Todd Blanche as President Donald Trump‘s legal counsel in his classified documents, election obstruction, and hush-money cases.
The Democrats showed concern in their letter that Bove is taking retaliatory actions as Deputy Attorney General toward DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the cases opposing Trump. He also ordered a list released of thousands of employees who worked on the Jan. 6 cases, they cited.
As for Martin, he represented a Jan. 6 case defendant and attended the Jan. 6 Capitol rally.
“To make matters worse, Mr. Martin not only represented those who participated in the January 6 insurrection, but he was also an organizer, participant, and witness to the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally at the Capitol himself. By his own contemporaneous admission on X, he personally attended the rally-turned-riot. In addition, on June 8, 2021, Mr. Martin posted on X that ‘Oath Keepers are all of us; — a clear sign of his support for, and affinity with, the Oath Keepers, a domestic violent extremist group whose leaders were convicted by a jury of seditious conspiracy, among other crimes, before President Trump pardoned them all on his first day in office,” they said.
Martin moved to dismiss cases against those who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 as one of his first moves in office. He also disbanded the Justice Department’s Capitol Siege Section and is reviewing the office’s obstruction federal charge against most of the 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.
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“Given the severity of these conflicts, we urge your office to initiate an immediate investigation
into the ethical conflicts of Mr. Bove and Mr. Martin,” the letter concludes. “Their actions and conflicts of interest appear to have compromised their ability to act in the public interest and have undermined public trust in the Department of Justice. The impartiality of DOJ employees is fundamental to ensuring
fairness and justice, and it is imperative that these issues be addressed without delay.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DOJ and Goldman for comment, but did not receive a response.