#weaponization working group

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ex-FBI agent accused of urging to kill cops on Jan. 6 joins Trump’s DOJ

A former FBI agent who was accused of inciting rioters to kill police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, now holds a post within President Donald Tru

Alex Samuels at Daily Kos:

A former FBI agent who was accused of inciting rioters to kill police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, now holds a post within President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. The ex-agent, Jared Wise, is serving as an adviser in the DOJ’s so-called “Weaponization Working Group,” a task force Trump created to pursue political retribution while claiming to root out abuses in law enforcement.  Wise will serve as a counselor to Ed Martin, the controversial former head of the Eagle Forum and Trump’s original pick for U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. Martin, who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection himself, now leads the Weaponization Working Group after Trump quietly pulled his nomination when it became clear that the Senate—including some Republicans—wouldn’t support him. Martin’s past defending of insurrectionists has already raised eyebrows, but bringing Wise on board is a particularly striking move. A man once accused of encouraging an angry mob to kill police officers is now helping steer the DOJ’s effort to go after anyone who tried to hold those insurrectionists accountable.

According to a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, the group’s mission includes investigating “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” tied to the insurrection. But its name signals a broader and more troubling agenda: using the DOJ as a weapon against Trump’s enemies. Wise’s exact duties remain unclear, but one source familiar with Martin’s thinking told the Times that Martin was “thrilled” to have him, even suggesting that If “we could genetically design an adviser,” they would look like Wise. Perhaps that’s because Wise embodies the very grievances that the task force was built around. He was charged in May 2023 and later indicted for allegedly screaming “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” as rioters attacked Capitol police. Prosecutors also said he compared officers to the Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s brutal secret police. He faced multiple charges, including for assaulting, resisting, and impeding officers.

Trump Regime panders to lawlessness, as Jared Wise-- the man who helped incite insurrectionists to kill cops on January 6th, 2021-- is on the DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group.”

See Also:

The Guardian: Former January 6 defendant now advising justice department’s ‘weaponization working group’

[justinspoliticalcorner]

DOJ’s “weaponization” plan B is to provide frothy content for right-wing conspiracy theorists

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

The Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group” is the fruit of a yearslong right-wing effort to portray federal law enforcement against Donald Trump and his allies as criminal in nature. But if that task force fails to bring charges against Trump’s purported enemies, its head, the right-wing activist Ed Martin, is promising to publicly “name” and “shame” those individuals — a clear violation of longstanding DOJ policy which would provide chum for MAGA media while turning its targets into hate objects.  “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them,” said Martin, who recently stepped down as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia when it became clear he could not secure Senate confirmation. “And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.” Martin may not actually realize this — he’s a political hack who represented January 6 defendants rather than an experienced prosecutor — but that is not how the job is supposed to operate. Indeed, as NBC News’ Ryan J. Reilly notes: “During Trump's first tenure, the justification given for Trump's firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that Comey had given a press conference in which he released ‘derogatory information’ about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.” Martin’s proposal to “name” and “shame” rather than prosecute Trump’s foes seems on the one hand like a significant retreat — a sign that he doesn’t think that the purported crimes he and his colleagues happily detailed in their books, podcasts, and Fox shows can pass muster with a federal judge. As Trump sought to brand the federal law enforcement officials who investigated him and successfully prosecuted several of his top advisers as the real criminals, a right-wing media ecosystem emerged to support his claims and try to flesh them out. Many of the key players in that ecosystem have since been appointed to the top ranks of the FBI and DOJ, no doubt at least in part because of their willingness to suggest that a reckoning was coming. 

The DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group” is about feeding masturbatory fodder for the right-wing media to drum up faux “charges” against federal law enforcement officials who brought charges against Donald Trump and his associates.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ed Martin out as leader of DOJ's 'weaponization' group, sources say

Asked whether Martin still served in the role, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News that he continued on in a separate role, as pard

Ryan J. Reilly at NBC News:

Trump loyalist Ed Martin has been stripped of his role leading the Justice Department’s “weaponization” working group, tasked with investigating prosecutors who pursued past investigations into the president and his allies, two people familiar with the discussions told NBC News. Asked whether Martin still served in the role, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News that Martin continued to serve in a separate role, as pardon attorney. “President Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to do a great job in that role,” according to the spokesman. Martin had been serving as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, but the longtime right-wing activist faced opposition from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Instead, President Donald Trump made Martin the pardon attorney and director of the “weaponization working group” established by Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to one of the president’s executive orders. Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was eventually named U.S. attorney for D.C.

The working group is seeking to examine work including that of former special counsel Jack Smith; any federal cooperation with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump’s hush money case; the Justice Department’s handling of cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack; and criminal prosecutions of anti-abortion activists, among other issues.

Trumpist hack Ed Martin is out as the leader of the DOJ’s “weaponization working group”, still serves in the DOJ in a different role as pardon attorney.