DC’s US Attorney launches probe into J6 corruption
Washington, DC Acting US Attorney Ed Martin on Monday launched an investigation into the office’s persecution of January 6th defendants under his predecessor, Matthew Graves.
Graves, who resigned last month, spearheaded the crackdown on Trump supporters after January 6, 2021, filing charges against more than 1,500 conservative Americans. Graves extracted plea deals from defendants by charging them excessively and offering to reduce the charges in exchange for a guilty plea. As part of this strategy, he charged hundreds of defendants with violating §1512 (c )(2), a law that carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence for obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The law was created in the wake of the 2001 Enron scandal when employees at the Arthur Andersen accounting firm illegally destroyed documents related to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In June, the US Supreme Court effectively ended this maneuver. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled in Fischer v. USA that the law was meant to be applied to cases of evidence tampering, not to taxpayers who peacefully protest.
The 1512 Project
On Monday morning, interim US Attorney Ed Martin sent an email to staff announcing an investigation into the office’s misuse of the 1512 statute. He directed them to hand over all relevant documents to senior prosecutors Jon Hooks and Denise Cheung, who must produce a preliminary report by Friday.
“Obviously, the use was a great failure of our office . . . and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Martin wrote in the email, according to the Washington Post.
“Please deliver to Jonathan and/or Denise all information you have related to the use of 1512 charges including all files, documents, notes, emails and other information,” he continued. “Be comprehensive and assertive in this, please,” he said, adding: “This 1512 project is important work.”
Even after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Graves tried to charge J6 defendants with 1512.
“Graves is - to state the obvious - out of line and breaking all norms of law practice,” Martin tweeted in September. “Must be held accountable.”
While the misapplication of 1512 is just one of the many ways Graves abused his office, Martin’s probe is the first of its kind from the Trump administration. Public figures like America’s Frontline Doctors Founder Dr. Simone Gold, who sat in prison for 60 days for being present at the Capitol, are calling for large-scale investigations into the Biden DOJ and impeachment proceedings for prosecutors and judges involved in the J6 prosecutions.
Martin has closed the office’s unit dedicated to prosecuting J6 defendants.
