U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has tapped Ed Martin, the ex-interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as “special attorney” to probe New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff over allegations of mortgage fraud, two administration officials told NBC News.
Martin, whose nomination for U.S. attorney was withdrawn in the face of bipartisan Senate opposition, met this morning with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who sent a criminal referral related to Schiff to the Justice Department in May, the administration officials said.
The Justice Department opened an investigation of James in the spring alleging she made false statements on mortgage loan applications.
When asked about James and Schiff by NBC News’ station in Washington, Martin said, “No one is above the law,” a refrain frequently used by James, Schiff and other Democrats in pursuing investigations of Trump. Martin did not confirm being tapped as special attorney.
Schiff and James have denied any wrongdoing.
NBC News reported earlier today that the Justice Department is in the initial stages of investigating James’ office over its successful civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his businesses.
Martin is a Trump loyalist who has been criticized for his handling of cases against the president’s supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He has also spread conspiracy theories about the Capitol riot and defended several of the defendants.
When Trump publicly accused him of mortgage fraud last month, Schiff denied the allegation and called it a distraction.
In a video responding to Trump’s social media post, Schiff said the president had based the accusation on his ownership of homes in Maryland and California.
“Big surprise — members of Congress, almost all of them, own more than one home or rent more than one home because we’re required to be on both coasts.”
“But what really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation — trying to distract from his Epstein files problem,” Schiff said. “And the bigger problem, of course, is that this is a terrible abuse of power. A president threatening prosecution or saying that his opponent should be jailed. This is the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do.”
