Americans should continue to be "unhappy" with the pace of disclosures from the Department of Justice (DOJ), incoming head of the Weaponization Working Group Ed Martin told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Martin said during an interview Thursday that there are "a lot of impediments" to getting information out but confirmed he is working with lawmakers, specifically on documents related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into now-debunked allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. "I encourage people to be unhappy with the pace of things and to keep pushing us, because I am too," Martin told the DCNF. "And all I can say is, it's harder than people think to get prosecutions and get things uncovered. There's a lot of impediments. There's a lot of people stopping us, but we're getting after it." President Donald TrumpannouncedMartin would head up the Weaponization Working Group on May 8 after his nomination to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia faced roadblocks in the Senate. He has ideas for the group that go beyond priorities Attorney General Pam Bondi outlined in a Februarymemo. Bondi's priorities include examining Special Counsel JackSmith'sTrumpprosecutions, cooperation betweenlocalprosecutorswhotargetedTrump and the federal government, Jan. 6 prosecutions, the FBI's Richmond field office Catholicmemo, DOJ guidance on parents protesting at school board meetings, prosecutions of pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the targeting of whistleblowers. The group has had around four meetings in the past couple months, Martin said. "I think part of the reason President Trump and Pam Bondi assigned me this role was because that working group has a lot of stuff to do," he said. "We needed a captain of that [to] try to manage it and to strategize." Beyond Bondi's priorities, Martintoldthe DCNF he wants to look into bar associations for targeting conservative attorneys. Martin says he is being investigated by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. He previouslytoldBreitbart that he would work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on COVID-19.(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Ed Martin Teases Potential Target For His DOJ Weaponization Group's Microscope) "There were so many lies told to us on COVID," Martin said. "And again, we're going to get the truth out, and we're going to find out who did what, when." During a newsconferenceTuesday, Martin also indicated the DOJ would take a "hard look" at the finalpardonsissued by former President Joe Biden, which he said "need some scrutiny." In the final days of his presidency, Biden grantedclemencyto thousands of individuals and commuted sentences for 37 death rowinmates. He issuedpreemptivepardons to Anthony Fauci, members of the Jan. 6 committee and several familymembersin the hours before Trump's inauguration. Trump also named Martin as the DOJ's pardon attorney. Several members of Congress have pending requests for document disclosures that overlap with likely priorities of the working group. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of WisconsinurgedDOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz in April to provide clarity on the DOJ's use of Confidential Human Sources (CHS) on Jan. 6. The OIG office released a report in Decemberrevealingthere were 26 CHS present that day in Washington, D.C. Martin said he is working with Grassley's team on the Crossfire Hurricane documents. "One of the tricks that the process has done is often created redacted document releases," he said. "You're saying, let's get documents. Let's get the truth. Let's let everybody see it. And then suddenly, you know, half of the thing is redacted …We're not going to get better on weaponization without more transparency about what's happened." Johnson and Grassley asked in March for theremovalof redactions from interviews related to the DOJ OIG's Crossfire Hurricane investigation. As interim U.S. attorney, Martin sent investigatory letters to several individuals involved with Robert Mueller's Russia probe,accordingto the New York Post. Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, along with three other Republican House members, sent arequestMay 8 to "publicly release the entirety of the Epstein files" by May 16. In March, Bondihandedbinders titled "Epstein Files: Phase 1" to conservative influencers visiting the White House. The move sparkeda public firestormas the binders contained almost no new information. Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawleyrequesteddetails related to policies targeting religious Americans, including FACE Act prosecutions and the Catholic memo, from FBI Director Kash Patel in March. The Biden administrationprosecutedpro-life activists under the FACE Act, including 23 who Trumppardonedin January, while failing in large part to prosecute attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and churches. "Transparency and accountability will be paramount in restoring Americans' faith in the Bureau," Hawley wrote in theletter. "Getting to the bottom of the Biden Administration's violations of religious liberty is an excellent place to start."(RELATED: Trump DOJ Steps Into Breach To Defend Religious Liberty) FBI Deputy Director Dan Bonginowroteon X May 10 that they were "clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible." "In just the couple of months since we've sworn in we've responded to requests for information on the attack on Rep. Scalise and members of Congress, the Nashville attack, Crossfire Hurricane, the COVID cover-up and more," he wrote. "We are working with the DOJ on the Epstein case and, as the AG stated, there are voluminous amounts of downloaded child sexual abuse material that we are dealing with." Others who sought to expose abuses by the Biden DOJ are hopeful the working group's efforts will bring results. Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a nonprofit that works with whistleblowers, told the DCNF the group should help provide remedies for "those who were improperly targeted" under the department's politicization. "We have helped bring to light the stories of more than a dozen current and former Justice Department employees whose lives were turned upside down because of the abuse of the security clearance process at the Justice Department," Leavitt said. "If the Weaponization Working Group can make a positive impact on and provide remedies to those who were improperly targeted under the Justice Department's blatant politicization, as well as hold the FBI accountable for its illegal retaliation, the WWG would be a success." IRSwhistleblowersGary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who alleged the Biden DOJ was a slow-walking probe into Hunter Biden's taxes and foreign business dealings, are among the whistleblowers Empower Oversight has supported. Oversight Project President Mike Howell expects Martin will "supercharge the Administration's efforts at holistically addressing the abuses of the Biden Administration" in the role. "We can only close this sad chapter of American history when there is actual accountability, not just exposure," Howell told the DCNF. "Ed Martin both understands that and has the spine to get it done." "While it is a disgrace that the U.S. Senate, led by Thom Tillis working off opposition research from Schiff, Schumer, and Durbin, took the unprecedented step of taking out the President's favorite U.S. Attorney, Ed Martin has emerged stronger," he said. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter's byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contactlicensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
