By Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber

WASHINGTON -- Top Justice Department officials have narrowed the role of a lawyer who had been tasked with pursuing matters of interest to President Trump and his allies, people familiar with the matter said.

Ed Martin is no longer leading a so-called weaponization working group formed early last year to take action against government employees deemed hostile to Trump or to conservative ideals, the people said. Martin was informed in early December that his role would end at the start of the new year, one of them said.

Department officials have been under heightened pressure to more aggressively pursue Trump's priorities.

Martin remains the Justice Department's pardon attorney, reviewing clemency applications and making recommendations to the president. Having once worked from an office department headquarters dubbed the "Freedom Suite," he has relocated to the pardon attorney's offices across town.

"Ed continues to do a great job in that role," a department spokesman said. Martin didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Some people around Trump had questioned Martin's effectiveness leading the working group, some of the people said. The group has been scrutinizing a number of Trump supporters' longstanding priorities. Those included the view that Biden-era officials improperly investigated those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol; wrongly targeted Roman Catholics; and sought to silence parents who spoke out on topics such as how race is addressed in schools.

It has also been reviewing the actions of former special counsel Jack Smith and his team, which brought two federal criminal cases against Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Trump has said Smith should be prosecuted, and Smith has said he fully expects Trump Justice Department officials will do so.

For his part, Martin felt Justice Department leaders had marginalized him, people familiar with his thinking said. Last year he complained to White House officials that he had too few staff and resources; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent Martin at least one staffer who quit, citing difficulties working with Martin, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Attorney General Pam Bondi named Martin a special prosecutor to study mortgage fraud allegations against Trump's Democratic adversaries such as New York Attorney General Letitia James. James was charged in October, but the criminal case was dismissed by a federal judge.

Martin took unusual steps in investigations that raised eyebrows inside the Justice Department. He showed up outside James's Brooklyn home in a trench coat resembling that of TV police lieutenant Columbo and posed for photos that appeared in the media. Martin sent a letter to a lawyer for a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who was among the first on the scene at the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., questioning his role in a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Blanche told Martin to rescind the letter, which he did.

Trump named Martin as interim U.S. attorney in Washington at the start of his second term, but withdrew his nomination to hold the role permanently after Martin failed to garner enough support. Some senators cited concerns over his past advocacy for people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.

Write to Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com and C. Ryan Barber at ryan.barber@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2026 17:23 ET (22:23 GMT)

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