DOJ official told GOP ally that big payouts were coming for Jan. 6 defendants

Months before the $1.7 billion fund was announced, Justice Department official Ed Martin said Capitol rioters would get millions, even if it took until 2028.

Earlier this year, not long after Trump administration official Ed Martin was stripped of his role as head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” working group that targeted the president’s political foes, he sat down for breakfast at an upscale spot near the White House.

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Inside the Peacock Lounge at the Willard InterContinental in Washington D.C., Martin dined with Republican operative Norm Coleman.

The two touched on the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, D.C. federal grand juries and former special counsel Jack Smith, according to two people with direct knowledge of their conversation.