Ed Martin, the head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” group
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Associated Press

“If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. That’s the way things work.”

That was a mission statement from Ed Martin, the man appointed to lead the Justice Department’s so-called “weaponization” unit. His job, ostensibly, is to restore trust. Instead, he’s setting fire to it.

Rather than dismantling political abuse, Martin has reconstructed it—brick by brick—under a different banner. His version of justice isn’t built on law or evidence. It’s built on enemies lists and headlines.

Martin has shown little regard for legal boundaries or ethical restraint. Even when the facts don’t support prosecution, he plows ahead with public condemnation. He’s not disarming the department—he’s rearming it with political ammunition.

And that should alarm all of us.

His remark doesn’t just violate norms—it violates the very code of conduct the Justice Department claims to uphold, one that promises “fair, evenhanded” investigations and warns against endangering “the privacy and reputation interests of uncharged” individuals. That’s not just a technicality. That’s the line between justice and abuse.

Martin isn’t serving the public. He’s serving Donald Trump.

And Trump’s targets are no secret: former FBI Director James Comey, special counsel Jack Smith, former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. The list keeps growing.

As Columbia law professor and former federal prosecutor Daniel Richman put it, “Outside of cases where you have someone whose conduct is open and notorious, the idea of targeting individuals is antithetical to the notion of the government investigating crimes, not people.”

He went further: “And the person who will be picking out those people has no record of the prudent exercise of judgment in federal prosecutions, but in fact has a record of abusive invocations of government power.”

The evidence backs him up.

On April 9, Donald Trump directed a federal investigation into Miles Taylor, the former DHS official who anonymously criticized him. That same day, he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an inquiry into Chris Krebs—the former cybersecurity chief who had the integrity to publicly confirm that the 2020 election was not stolen. Not long after, Trump called for an investigation into ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fundraising platform.

These are not the actions of a leader seeking justice. They are the reflexes of a man using government power to punish those who refuse to echo his narrative.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Martin went further, arguing that a prosecutor’s role is “not just to find the right guy to prosecute” but also “to publicly report wrongdoing.”

That may sound good to the base, but it tears at the foundation of real justice. Prosecutors are not in the business of public shaming. Their job is to weigh facts, follow the law, and protect the rights of all individuals—especially those not charged with a crime.

When the Justice Department becomes a political theater instead of a court of law, we lose more than decorum. We lose trust.

And under Trump, trust has become collateral damage.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised, “I will be your retribution.”

Let’s drop the pretense. What he really meant was: I will be my retribution.

His latest retribution? President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a wide investigation into whether Joe Biden hid signs of mental decline while in office and was unable to make presidential decisions — a move that could potentially undo many of Biden’s actions and pardons.

Eighty-five years ago, Attorney General Robert H. Jackson gave a warning that now sounds prophetic. Speaking to Justice Department staff in 1940, he said, “The greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power” arises when an official “finds some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons and then looks for an offense.”

That danger is no longer hypothetical. It’s policy. If there was any doubt before, we now have clarity: under Trump, justice serves one man, not the American people.

It just doesn’t stop.

Trump abruptly dismissed scores of National Security staff.

Trump Threatens Tariffs on Apple and EU Amid Escalating Trade War.

Harvard sues the Trump administration after DHS revokes its ability to admit foreign students. The threat is a warning to other universities in his sights.

California to sue Trump administration after Senate’s ‘illegal’ vote to undo state’s EV rules.

It Just Doesn’t Stop.