Ed Martin speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2025. Craig Hudson For The Washington Post/Getty Images/File

Failing to win Senate approval as US Attorney for Washington, DC, has made Ed Martin a more formidable force inside the Trump Justice Department.

After three chaotic months as interim US attorney earlier this year, Justice Department officials placed Martin in the department’s headquarters in a traditionally more supervised position. Unconfirmable and intent on rewriting the consequences of the January 6 prosecutions, Martin was, as one Trump ally said, being put under more “adult supervision.”

That move, though, didn’t appear to hold him back. Martin now wields a surprising amount of political power and four titles: Associate Deputy Attorney General, P

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