Last week, DC’s acting US attorney Ed Martin sat down for a taped interview with the Washington Informer. The publication’s politics reporter James Wright Jr., who led the conversation, gave Martin an opportunity to address several of the controversies that he has stirred since taking office and also pressed him on his philosophy as it applies to the prosecution of DC crime trends, such as assaults on Metro trains and buses.
While Martin’s responses generally tend toward vague half-answers, the real revelations reside in his affect. Apart from his notably warmer disposition and a darker-colored pompadour, Martin’s mannerisms are overwhelmingly Trumpian—down to the seemingly compulsive accordion-inspired hand gestures. We at Washingtonian have taken it upon ourselves to mark each moment in the interview during which Martin appears to be wholly possessed by the President’s life force.
5:12: Wright broaches the subject of Martin’s federal gun charge initiative, which a recent Washington Post investigation revealed has disproportionately targeted Black men—a concern that residents of Wards 7 and 8 expressed to him directly at an Anacostia Coordinating Council meeting he attended last month. “Listen, I’m talking to the Informer and not the Washington Post—that was their article … It was very unfair,” Martin replied. “First of all, I never asked who was arrested. I didn’t know they were only African Americans. I still don’t really know for sure.” Accusing the Post of left-wing bias without meaningfully engaging with the facts of the story in question is a MAGA cliché at this point, but Martin’s immediate instinct to break the fourth wall in his write-off of their coverage—and then to add that he doesn’t really know what they’re talking about anyway—feels fundamentally Trumpy.
9:37: “I do think that in this town—Washington, DC—we have to keep it safe,” Martin says while flattening his hands against the air, as if he’s about to play piano but has no joints in his fingers. This, for some reason, feels like an audition to play Alec Baldwin playing Trump on SNL circa 2016.
15:26: Referencing the letter that Martin sent to Georgetown University law school dean William Treanor earlier this year—in which he writes that his office will not consider applications from any prospective employee “who is a student or affiliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI”—Wright asks whether Martin is willing to hire from the predominantly Black law schools at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. “I’ll take both of those,” Martin says before Wright has finished speaking. “Guys from that school I’ll take.” This is reminiscent of Trump’s signature inversion: Say the sentence one way, and then repeat it, but switch around the subject and predicate.
If you’re curious why Martin is willing to hire from Howard but is hesitant about Georgetown, here’s his justification: “Howard University says, ‘We’re coming from a historically Black university. This is who we are and how we’re training.’ You know what you’re getting. And these people—they’re sophisticated, it’s part of what their mission is. Georgetown pretends it’s for this Jesuit …. The Jesuits, they are not racist. They do not form their people in that way. And I think Georgetown’s policies—go look at their website—it’s classic liberal guilt.”
18:31: A pregnant pause mid-sentence, and then a familiar countenance washes over Martin—the abruptly vacant, practically fearful expression that we once saw cross the faces of Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan just before they switched bodies in Freaky Friday. And then, he speaks: “My office is the greatest law office in the world, and the people there are the best.” The spirit has entered his person.
30:19: “Mr. Martin, you’re white. You’re from the Midwest. And you don’t fit the profile here in Washington, DC,” Wright says. “What is your message to Washingtonians in terms of what you want to do as the US Attorney for the District of Columbia?”
Martin pensively nibbles on his index finger. “Well, I’ll let you in on a secret,” he answers. “I actually grew up in New Jersey—don’t tell anybody.” Then, he goes on to talk about New Jersey, without once acknowledging that DC and New Jersey are not in fact the same place. This moment is emblematic of perhaps the most consistent feature of his Trump impression—the bit where he doesn’t answer the question he’s been asked.
