Ed Martin to leave DOJ post for election legal battles

President Donald Trump announced Aug. 21, 2026, that Ed Martin would leave his Justice Department position as U.S. pardon attorney to pursue election-related legal work outside government. Trump said Martin would focus on legal battles involving the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election.

The announcement would move a politically prominent Justice Department official from a federal clemency role into outside election-related legal work. It also leaves open practical questions about when Martin’s government service will formally end and who will lead the Office of the Pardon Attorney during any transition.

What Trump announced

Trump described Martin’s next assignment as a campaign around election-related legal battles. That description came from the president. The reviewed sources did not establish Martin’s outside employer, clients, compensation or legal authority.

Nothing in the reviewed material establishes that Martin’s private work will be coordinated with the Justice Department or performed on behalf of the federal government. The announcement also did not confirm an effective departure date.

Martin’s path through the Justice Department

Martin’s Justice Department career under Trump moved through several politically sensitive positions. He served as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, was named director of the department’s Weaponization Working Group and was appointed U.S. pardon attorney on May 14, 2025, according to his Justice Department staff profile.

The Office of the Pardon Attorney assists the president in exercising executive clemency. That work includes pardons, commutations, remissions of fines or restitution and reprieves. The office reviews clemency applications and provides recommendations and administrative support; it does not itself grant clemency.

Martin’s nomination for permanent U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia did not gain enough Republican support in the Senate, according to Associated Press and CBS News reporting. Those reports also described scrutiny of his tenure, including disputes over his handling of politically sensitive matters, his connection to Jan. 6-related causes and his removal from leadership of the Weaponization Working Group. The allegations and disputes should be understood as reported controversies and political conflicts, not as findings that Martin committed wrongdoing.

DOJ listings had not changed

As of Aug. 29, the department’s public Office of the Pardon Attorney page and Martin’s staff profile still listed him as the office’s leader. The profile identified his dates of service as 2025 to present.

The reviewed sources did not identify a successor or confirm that the position had become vacant. Trump’s announcement therefore does not, by itself, change pardon eligibility rules or automatically alter pending clemency decisions.

Recent clemency-office role

Martin also had a recent public role in a Justice Department initiative announced Aug. 17 to create a process for restoring federal firearm rights. The department’s announcement quoted Martin describing work carried out under Attorney General Todd Blanche’s direction.

That initiative was a separate final Justice Department action and was not presented in the reviewed sources as connected to Martin’s departure. His participation is relevant because it shows that he was still publicly involved in pardon-office work shortly before Trump’s announcement.

What to watch next

The immediate questions are administrative and political: when Martin’s federal service officially ends, whether the department names an acting or permanent replacement, and how the pardon office handles its workload during any transition.

Martin’s eventual outside legal role will also clarify the scope of Trump’s announcement. Election litigation involving the 2026 contests or the 2028 presidential race could make the move part of a broader effort to organize legal responses around future elections, but the announcement alone does not establish what cases or campaigns Martin will join.

Sources

Look for updates to this story

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