Posted originally on CTH on May 10, 2025 | Sundance

Deputy U.S Attorney General Todd Blanche, United States Solicitor General D. John Sauer, and Dept of Justice Investigative Lead, Attorney Ed Martin, are very serious people in Main Justice.

The deliberate nature of the trio recently resulted in the Senate division of the weaponized DC system, rejecting the nomination of Ed Martin to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington DC.  The need for control is a reaction to fear. Apparently, the DeceptiCons were fraught.

DAG Blanche coordinates and prioritizes the day-to-day USAO office activity around the country.  Blanche is the general in charge of eliminating Lawfare efforts.  Solicitor General Sauer faces the Supreme Court.  Sauer is the general in charge of framing the arguments from Blanche that reach the court.  Meanwhile, DC USAO Martin, now with position changed to Presidential Appointment Martin in charge of investigating weaponized justice efforts, is the lead investigator on all enmeshed corruption within Washington DC.

Blanche, Sauer and Martin are serious and purposefully driven men.

In our discussions and outlines CTH does not trade in hopium, nor do we promote the popular albeit nonsensical and futile anticorruption efforts favored by most high-profile media types.  The reality of the DC silo system is not easily understood, and that is entirely by design.  High profiles may generate headlines, but do not generate adequate results as increasingly evidenced by AG Bondi, Director Patel and Deputy Bongino, all performers.

As the Washington DC USAO, Ed Martin was in position to address the known and documented activity of a variety of former DOJ officials.  There’s a strong argument to be made that’s the reason why the DOJ’s corrupt allies in congress moved to eliminate the threat Martin represented.  However, their collective result didn’t remove him, nor did it change the objective, it just changed Mr Martin’s title.

Whereas Washington DC USAO Ed Martin previously carried the authority of the Attorney General, in the changed dynamic special appointee ADAG Ed Martin now carries the authority of the President of the United States.  A serendipitous outcome.

♦ Because there is so much confusion, a little background context is needed. You see, you might remember former Special Prosecutor John Durham who was appointed by former Attorney General Bill Barr. During his review of all ‘Russiagate’ matters, John Durham was never permitted to investigate anyone inside govt.

John Durham was given a very specific task and very specific guardrails he was not allowed to cross or touch. The guardrails are what created the outcome. The guardrails were put into place by AG Bill when he officially appointed him in October 19, 2020; five months after the initial request to begin review.

Politicians, political staff, members of the Obama administration, political appointees and any federal govt employee within any agency were off limits to Durham.  During a conversation on August 18, 2020, Durham’s lead investigator Bill Aldenberg first admitted the limitations.  No-one inside government could be investigated.

But FBI Agent Kevin Clinesmith, you say?

Great question.

Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI official who fabricated a CIA email to support the FISA application used against Carter Page, was an OIG criminal referral to Bill Barr and Main Justice from the DOJ Inspector General investigation into the Page FISA construct.

The IG referral by Michael Horowitz preceded John Durham’s appointment and was handed to Durham by AG Barr while being told the Clinesmith case would provide cover for the guardrails.  In essence, Clinesmith would give the appearance that people inside govt were being held accountable by Main Justice through the John Durham special counsel.  This was the intention of Bill Barr.

It was all a farce. The effect of Barr’s approach was to throw off, water down and diffuse criticism from President Trump for inaction by the DOJ about the fraudulent Crossfire Hurricane targeting operation. In essence, Bill Barr gave John Durham the Clinesmith case as a cover operation to protect govt officials.

To be fair, and in defense of his friend, John Durham would likely take issue with my characterization of his probe, yet he would admit the gist of his conversation with Barr (as relayed above) is essentially accurate.

Durham readily admitted his purview was limited to non-governmental participants. No one inside govt or the executive branch was ever investigated directly. Yes, their misconduct surfaced as an outcome of their contacts with Perkins Coie (one example), but those trails were never allowed to be followed.

Given the passage of time, this background is generally a moot point; I am only sharing it again for the sake of clarity.  The key point is that govt participants were never investigated by John Durham, and a full accounting of the corrupt players was never made public.

♦ Now, back to the matter at hand.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Martin has spent months leveraging his perch as top federal DC prosecutor and quietly operating as a tip of the spear in the administration’s war against Russiagate villains, Capitol riot prosecutions and lawfare, The Post has learned.

Now that his responsibilities have been sharpened, Martin anticipates there “may be no limit to the targets” the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group will pursue under his watch, since there “was no limit to the weaponization.”

“It’s a nationwide and frankly, international docket where the government was used against the citizens, where the government was weaponized,” Martin told The Post about his plans for the weaponization working group. “Sometimes there’ll be crimes involved, in which case we’ll prosecute. Sometimes there’ll be just the need to make clear this is not how it’s supposed to go.”

Shortly after Trump tapped him as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, a post that expires on May 20, Martin quickly demoted over half a dozen prosecutors involved with Capitol riot cases and fired off investigatory letters to key Russiagate actors.

This includes Andrew Weissman, the Mueller probe “pitbull;” Mary McCord, who oversaw DOJ’s sprawling probe into possible Trump-Russia ties; Aaron Zelinsky, another Mueller probe prosecutor; and Charles McGonigal, a former FBI special agent in charge who also worked on the Russia probe of the Trump campaign.

[…] The DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group was established in February by Attorney General Pam Bondi in response to an executive order from Trump to root out remnants of lawfare and hold key perpetrators accountable.

Martin was an early member of the group, and now, as its leader, he will report to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. He has also been tapped to serve as pardon attorney.

“The truth is important, and we need it,” Martin reflected about his new role. “We need to move forward. But then, after the truth is known, we need to hold those accountable that did the wrongdoing, and we need to also help those who are victims. We have both of those obligations.” (link)

We deserve an honest reckoning for what took place.

The value of investigating “what took place” is not to gain any indictment for the participants; indeed, the statute of limitations has long expired; the optimal value within the investigation itself is to knock all those DC creatures off their high-horse and face the full fury of the public.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant!