Just days after the Justice Department’s newly formed Weaponization Working Group launched a probe into New York Attorney General Letitia James, its director, Ed Martin, sent a letter demanding her resignation—a step critics say bypasses established prosecutorial procedure.
The letter, sent to James’ attorney last week and reviewed by ABC News, urged her to step down “in the national interest.” James’ legal team has denounced the move as a violation of Justice Department norms and ethics standards.
The investigation reportedly centers on James’ high-profile cases against former President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association. Trump and his sons were found liable last year in a decade-long fraud scheme that inflated his net worth, while James secured a $4 million judgment against NRA chief Wayne LaPierre for misusing donor funds. Martin has also opened inquiries into two properties James owns in New York and Virginia.
Martin’s conduct has raised eyebrows within the department. On August 15, three days after sending the resignation letter, he appeared outside James’ Brooklyn home in a trench coat, posing for a photographer. While he told a neighbor he was “just looking at houses,” he later described the visit as part of his work. According to sources, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Todd Blanche privately warned Martin that the stunt was counterproductive.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the matter. Martin did not respond to ABC’s request for a statement.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, blasted the inquiry as politically motivated retaliation. “Despite the lack of evidence or law, you will take whatever actions you have been directed to take to make good on President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s calls for revenge for that reason alone,” Lowell wrote in a letter to Martin.
James has not been formally accused of wrongdoing. But the unusual tactics, coupled with Trump’s promises of retribution against his critics, have cast the investigation in a sharply political light.
