Interim District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Ed Martin compared the use of an obstruction statute against Jan. 6 defendants to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s use of internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, NBC News reported.
In a Friday morning email obtained by the outlet, Martin said he was expanding the scope of the “special project” he had launched regarding the use of an obstruction of official proceeding charge against the Jan. 6 defendants.
“We continue to look at exactly how and why so many Jan 6th cases were charged using 1512 which led to the dramatic failure before the Supreme Court,” Martin wrote. “We have contacted lawyers, staff and judges about this — and sought their feedback.
“One called the bi-partisan rejection of the 1512 charge the ‘greatest failure of legal judgement since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps — and seized their property.’ I agree and that’s why we continue to look at who ordered the 1512 and why. A lot to do.”
One former Jan. 6 prosecutor told NBC that the reference to Korematsu v. United States and the World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans was “grotesque.”
“That he would compare the internment of thousands of Americans solely based on their ethnicity to the targeted arrest of individuals who committed crimes on video is sickening,” the former prosecutor said.
Up until this year, when it was invoked by the Trump administration to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, the last time the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was used was to detain Japanese Americans suspected of being a threat to the U.S. war effort in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
Martin also said that his office has “been asked to look into leaks that took place during January 6th prosecutions,” and pointed out that “leaks of evidence, tactics, and other aspects of the effort damaged the parties, witnesses, and LEOs.” He said “all of this was used by the media and partisans as misinformation.”
“It was bad all around,” he wrote. “(One participant said she believed the media was in a frenzy for attention like during the OJ Simpson trial.)”
Martin, who has represented several Jan. 6 defendants, reportedly gave a speech on Capitol grounds on Jan. 5, 2021, in which he said that “die-hard true Americans” would fight until their “last breath” to “stop the steal,” a reference to a claim among Trump supporters that the 2020 election was stolen from now-President Donald Trump. He has been nominated to retain the position of D.C.’s chief federal prosecutor on a permanent basis.
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