Under oath to Senate, Martin claims ignorance of Nazi sympathizer’s views

A top Senate Democrat accused Ed Martin Monday of dodging or giving false answers to questions by a committee weighing his nomination as President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. attorney for D.C. — such as by claiming he hadn’t seen photographs of a man he praised who had posed as Adolf Hitler and made statements supporting Nazi ideology.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that in answering roughly 500 written questions by committee members, “Mr. Martin makes a number of false statements that are easily debunked and dodges at least 80 questions outright,” such as by stating he did not “recall” answers more than 39 times.

Among questions Durbin posed was whether Martin had seen photos of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendant, posing as Hitler while wearing a short mustache. Martin called Hale-Cusanelli “an extraordinary man and extraordinary leader” at an awards ceremony put on by Martin’s nonprofit group on Aug. 14 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“No,” Martin responded, adding that he now found Hale-Cusanelli’s views “abhorrent and deplorable. I condemn his comments and pictures in the strongest possible terms. Additionally, I condemn all antisemitism in any form.”

But in an interview Martin conducted with Hale-Cusanelli that was posted on Rumble in July, Martin told him that prosecutors “leaked a photo to say, ah, look, these people, these people, MAGA people are antisemitic. And the photo was of you; I’ve heard you say it before, you know, you had like a mustache shaved in such a way that you looked vaguely like Hitler and making jokes about it. Again, you know, not your best moment, but not illegal.”

A similar photo was included in a government brief in March 2021 opposing Hale-Cusanelli’s pretrial release from jail.

Durbin also asked Martin how many times he had interviewed Hale-Cusanelli. “Once in June of 2024,” Martin responded. “I do not recall interviewing him again afterward,” Martin said, according to a 113-page document submitted to the committee. A copy of the document was obtained by The Washington Post.

Martin interviewed Hale-Cusanelli four times last year, once in January, then in July, September and October. He also interviewed him in June 2022, according to podcast recordings.

Martin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening, nor on Friday for an earlier article about a report last week by the Forward, a Jewish publication. The Forward said that Martin apologized for praising Hale-Cusanelli and claimed he did not know about all of the latter’s statements about Jews and other groups beforehand.

Durbin said Martin’s responses, “which are under oath, leave me with even more questions and further underscore the need to hear live testimony from Ed Martin at a hearing.”

The Post reported last week that Martin had defended Hale-Cusanelli since at least 2023, calling him a friend who was “slurred and smeared” by antisemitism allegations. In 2021, Martin began serving as one of three top officers of a nonprofit led by Hale-Cusanelli’s aunt, Cynthia Hughes, which advocated and raised money for people charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, tax records show.

Martin has told the Senate he stepped down early this year. He also spoke frequently with Hughes, hosting her on his podcast more than a dozen times since 2021.

Martin disclosed receiving $30,000 last year for serving on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, Hughes’s group.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also questioned Martin. His first inquiries were about his relationship with Hale-Cusanelli.

“I am not close with him,” Martin responded. “I know of him in the same vein that I know many of the January 6 defendants — through my role as a defense attorney for three of the defendants. I am aware of his name and some details involving his case, and I otherwise do not have close, consistent interactions with him.”

Durbin included in his questions three examples of racist, homophobic or antisemitic slurs by Hale-Cusanelli, according to exhibits in his Jan. 6 court case. Martin called the first example “unacceptable in any context” and the latter two examples “abhorrent and inappropriate in any context,” and he said he was not aware of the statements before honoring Hale-Cusanelli.

“I would never promote or engage in white nationalism or antisemitism,” Martin told the Senate committee.

In his July podcast with Hale-Cusanelli, Martin stated, “I’ve never met a white supremacist that is actively a part of the Republican Party.”

In April 2022, Martin defended Republican podcast guest Steve King, a former Iowa congressman who was stripped of committee assignments and censured by the House in January 2019 after questioning whether the terms “white nationalist” or “white supremacist” should be offensive.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King asked a New York Times reporter. King disputed the accuracy of the quote, but fellow lawmakers rebuked him after he had employed racist language and amplified the voices of far-right figures for years, tweeting his support for ethnic nationalism and recirculating a message from a self-described “Nazi sympathizer.”

In his podcast, Martin criticized Congress and suggested King had been smeared for airing conservative opinions. “Anyone who turns around, they call a white supremacist. Anyone who has an opinion that’s conservative is considered not only cancelable but, you know, needs to be canceled,” Martin said. He said King was speaking up for ethics and values, or what King called “our faithful Christian-based moral foundation.”

Martin has taken a tougher stand against Republican lawmakers, including senators, on other political issues.

Examples cited by Durbin in his questions included a February 2020 podcast, in which Martin called Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) and other “supposed Republicans” who voted to extend a deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment “traitors” who should face primary challenges.

In June 2022, he called Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) “a guy that sort of goes soft” for supporting bipartisan gun-control legislation after mass killings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo.

Martin wrote in 2021 that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaksa) should also face a primary challenge for voting for Trump’s impeachment, and he praised the Maine GOP for considering a censure of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for doing the same. Martin said in December 2023 that then-Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) was part of a “swamp fix” who became rich from work in government.

Martin criticized more than 40 Republican senators who called for the transfer of Soviet-era MiG fighter jets to Ukraine three weeks after Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion as lacking any “brain.” He also criticized Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) for supporting aid to Ukraine because of the “military industrial complex” in his state and suggested Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lacked knowledge of history after Graham suggested the violent overthrow of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In response to Durbin’s questions about his past criticism of Republicans, Martin said, “I do not recall doing so,” and referred to an answer he gave about civility in political discourse.

“In my capacity as a private citizen I have expressed strong opinions, at times taking rhetorical liberties,” Martin said. He added, “I agree with your question that it is important for public officials to maintain a degree of civility and I pledge to you that if confirmed I will follow all Department of Justice policies and procedures as regards public statements and comment on any policy matters.”

Trump nominated Martin to serve a full term in February. If he is not confirmed by May 20, the end of his 120-day interim appointment, judges in the U.S. District Court in D.C. will name a new interim U.S. attorney until one is confirmed.