MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough was left speechless after watching a Justice Department official openly declare on live TV that he’s investigating Donald Trump’s political enemies — and plans to dig even deeper.
On Morning Joe, Scarborough played a clip of Ed Martin — a special attorney appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi — who is leading investigations into top Trump critics, including Rep. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But what shocked Scarborough wasn’t just the investigations — it was that a DOJ official was talking like a political hitman on national TV. He couldn’t ignore it — and he couldn’t explain it.
Martin, appearing on Fox Business with host Maria Bartiromo, said, “We’re going to go to the very bottom of the facts, and if somebody did something wrong, we’re not only going to hold them accountable. We’re also going to look at everything else that they’ve been doing, because when you’re a liar, you lie not just on one thing. When you’re a cheater, you cheat not just on one thing. When you’re doing corruption, you generally don’t just do it on one thing.”
Scarborough couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Wait wait wait wait – that’s a Justice Department official?” he said. Co-host Jonathan Lemire confirmed Martin’s role. Scarborough responded, “Wait, I’m sorry – that’s a Justice Department official? It’s a rhetorical question. I mean, the fact that you have a Justice Department official ranting like that, I mean, yeah, you talk about breaking every political and constitutional norm. That’s just outrageous.”
Lemire added more context. Martin had reportedly been seen in Brooklyn near Letitia James’ home. He’s working closely with Mike Davis, a Republican legal activist who’s been pushing for years to launch criminal investigations against high-profile Democrats and members of law enforcement.
“Mike Davis, a Republican lawyer and former legal counsel to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has pushed for federal criminal investigations of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and senior FBI, CIA and Justice Department officials,” Lemire said. “Now, a series of recent investigations approved by Attorney General Pam Bondi suggests to Davis that his long-sought goal is most likely approaching.”
NBC News reporter David Rohde weighed in, warning that Davis and others are using vague legal charges like “denial of rights” to go after Trump’s critics. That same charge is being used in the probe against Letitia James, even though a judge already ruled that Trump overvalued his properties and fined him $500 million.
“So Mike Davis is very influential in Trump circles, and he has been calling for these sweeping investigations of the last two Democratic presidents and the last Democratic nominee for ages,” Rohde said. “He sees this Ed Martin probe of Schiff and James as a sign on the right direction… They’re using this very broad charge, denial of rights.”
Rohde also pointed out that the new U.S. attorney handling these cases is based in Miami, where Trump is likely to face a more favorable jury. He warned that the entire approach is undoing decades of reforms meant to prevent political abuse of the Justice Department.
“After Watergate, after [J. Edgar] Hoover’s abuses, where you just had a weaponized FBI and DOJ, the American people made all these reforms in the 1970s to have Justice Department prosecutors not say things like that in public, not smear people, not talk about investigations,” Rohde said. “All of this is… it appears to be changing right now.”
Watch the clip below from MSNBC.
