Category: Political Operative
Role: President of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles; co-founder of the “Stop the Steal” movement; January 6 rally organizer; interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (Jan.–May 2025); U.S. Pardon Attorney (May 14, 2025 – present); Director of the DOJ Weaponization Working Group (2025 – early Feb. 2026, when he was removed)
Priority: P0 (A Stop the Steal co-founder and January 6 rally organizer now controls the DOJ office through which every federal clemency petition flows — and has personally announced the most legally significant pardons of Trump’s second term, including the Nov. 7, 2025 fake-elector pardons)

Documented Actions: 2020-2026

1. November–December 2020: Co-founded the “Stop the Steal” movement, which promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Organized and funded the “Wild Protest” rally event on January 6, paying for vendors at the event. Publicly stated: “On the day Congress meets in accordance with the Electoral College we are bringing one million patriots to the capital city.”

1. January 6, 2021: Participated in organizing the rally events that preceded the Capitol assault. Helped coordinate logistics and vendor arrangements for the day’s events.

1. December 2021: Subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating January 6, which identified him as a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement. Required to produce documents by December 23, 2021, and appear for a deposition on January 5, 2022.

1. January–May 2025 — Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia: Appointed to the most powerful federal prosecutor’s office in the nation — the office that prosecuted January 6 defendants. Announced publicly that he intended to target Democratic politicians, media organizations, progressive groups, and officials who investigated Trump, while advocating for the January 6 defendants his own office had previously prosecuted. His nomination for the permanent post was withdrawn in the face of Senate opposition (including Sen. Thom Tillis), and he was moved to the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney.

1. May 14, 2025 — Appointed U.S. Pardon Attorney: Named by Trump as U.S. Pardon Attorney, replacing career prosecutor Elizabeth Oyer, whom the Trump administration fired in March 2025 after Oyer refused to recommend restoring Mel Gibson’s firearms rights. In this role, Martin oversees the DOJ office through which every federal clemency petition flows. Within two weeks of Martin’s arrival, Trump pardoned more than two dozen MAGA-aligned figures and wealthy criminals; reporting since has documented that the office no longer functions as a merit-based screen — pardon authority has instead migrated to a White House aides circle around the president, with Martin serving as its DOJ-side operator and public announcer.

1. 2025 – early February 2026 — Director, DOJ Weaponization Working Group: Simultaneously with the Pardon Attorney role, Martin served as inaugural Director of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “Weaponization Working Group,” charged with investigating officials and prosecutors who had investigated Trump. Removed from the Weaponization role in early February 2026 following a power struggle with Deputy AG Todd Blanche; Martin remained as Pardon Attorney.

1. May 30, 2025 — Raskin probe: House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin sent a formal letter to Martin demanding documents on his role in what the committee described as “Trump’s corrupt pardon spree,” including any lobbyist, donor, or third-party communications tied to specific clemency grants.

1. November 7, 2025 — Announced the fake-elector pardons on social media: Martin personally posted the Trump pardon document covering ~77 people involved in the 2020 election / fake-elector scheme — including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Kenneth Chesebro, and Boris Epshteyn — before the White House confirmed it. Constitutional scholars described the pardon as the first in U.S. history to cover individuals accused of criminally conspiring with the president who issued it.

1. Background: Previously served as President of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles (Eagle Forum successor organization); Missouri Republican Party Chairman (2013–2015); Chief of Staff to former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt (2006–2007).

Pattern Analysis

Martin’s trajectory represents one of the most direct examples of institutional capture in the January 6 aftermath. The person who helped organize Stop the Steal and the events preceding the Capitol assault has, in Trump’s second term, occupied — in sequence and sometimes simultaneously — three DOJ positions that determine how the January 6 story is legally resolved:

1. Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. (Jan.–May 2025) — the office that prosecuted January 6 defendants.
2. U.S. Pardon Attorney (May 2025 – present) — the office through which every subsequent clemency application flows.
3. Director, DOJ Weaponization Working Group (2025 – Feb. 2026) — the office charged with investigating the officials and prosecutors who had investigated Trump.

The consolidation of these roles in a single January 6 organizer transforms the DOJ’s clemency function from a merit-based safety valve into an instrument of political and financial reward. Documented pardons under Martin’s tenure — Herrera Velutini, Trevor Milton, Paul Walczak, CZ (Binance), the Chrisleys, George Santos, and the Nov. 7, 2025 fake-elector pardons — repeatedly overlap with (a) direct donations to Trump-aligned political committees, (b) enrichment of Trump family businesses (e.g., World Liberty Financial), or (c) participation in the very post-2020 election effort Martin himself helped organize.

See Trump Presidential Pardons and Clemency — Complete Record — “The Pardon Ecosystem — Donors, Lobbyists, and Attorneys (2025–2026)” — for the full donor-pardon overlap register.

Severity Assessment

Immediate harm: CRITICAL — As U.S. Pardon Attorney, Martin controls the DOJ chokepoint through which every clemency petition flows, has already announced the most consequential pardons of Trump’s second term (including Nov. 7, 2025 fake-elector pardons), and simultaneously ran (until Feb. 2026) the Weaponization Working Group targeting prior investigators of Trump.
Democratic erosion: Installing a January 6 organizer as (in sequence) the top federal prosecutor in D.C., the U.S. Pardon Attorney, and the Weaponization Working Group director represents a structural inversion of DOJ’s role — from a check on political violence to an instrument of the movement that perpetrated it. The pay-for-pardon reporting (NPR, Forbes, Alternet, 2026) suggests that under Martin the Pardon Attorney’s office has become the front door for a K Street clemency market charging $600,000 to $5 million per petition.

Accountability Status

Current status: U.S. Pardon Attorney (since May 14, 2025); removed from the DOJ Weaponization Working Group directorship in early February 2026 after a power struggle with Deputy AG Todd Blanche; remains at DOJ.
Legal exposure: None currently — his role continues to give him institutional power rather than exposure. Prior J6 Select Committee subpoena did not result in charges. Congressional oversight: House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin launched a formal probe (May 30, 2025 letter) into Martin’s role in Trump’s pardon spree; Democratic Sen. Peter Welch and Reps. Dave Min and Raul Ruiz followed on May 7, 2026 with 17 letters to pardon recipients demanding disclosure of lobbyist, donor, and third-party involvement.

Investigative trail pointers (public records)

Education only — verify independently. Absence of hits is not proof.