by WorldTribune Staff, October 20, 2026 — Real World News
Ed Martin—former U.S. Pardon Attorney and former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia—said that one of the defining characteristics of lawfare is that the litigation or legal investigation itself—rather than just the final verdict—serves as the primary penalty by consuming a person’s money and emotional well-being.
“And the conclusion I have come to is much less comfortable than another debate about norms or professional standards,” Martin wrote in an Oct. 20 substack analysis.
Ed Martin
“If we stay on the same trend line, the logical progression of what we are watching is not another ethics complaint. It is not another disbarment proceeding. It is not another prosecution.
“They will kill you.
“I do not mean that metaphorically. That is where the progression ends if nobody stops it.”
In the analysis, which was adapted from from remarks he delivered on Sept, 30 at “Barfare: Stopping Bar Discipline as Political Warfare,” hosted by the Conservative Partnership Institute, the Claremont Institute, the Oversight Project, and American Ascent, Martin pointed to several conservatives who have been run through the lawfare grinder, including John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Jim Troupis, and the thousands of Jan. 6 defendants.
“People have mortgaged their homes. Sold property. Burned through savings. Watched careers they spent decades building get ripped apart,” Martin wrote.
“Look at Cleta Mitchell. Everybody who knows anything about the legal profession knows that Cleta is a great lawyer. They pushed her out because she acted like a lawyer. And they would have done a lot worse if she had not had a family and people around her who could support her. That is the reality. We should stop sugarcoating it.”
Martin continued: “I can look out from where I am speaking and see John Eastman. I can go about a mile in another direction and get to the jail where January 6 defendants were held. The day before these remarks, I walked into a podcast studio and saw a picture of Charlie Kirk on the wall. I did not ask about it. I did not want to ask about it. I did not want to think about it.
“But we have to think about it. We have to think about the progression.
“First, people are investigated because of their politics. Then they are prosecuted. Then their professional licenses are taken away. Then they are imprisoned. Then their reputations are destroyed. Then they are bankrupted. Then the public is conditioned to regard them as something less than fellow citizens.
“At some point, if that process continues unchecked, destroying people legally, professionally and financially is no longer enough. That is why I say the endpoint is killing people.”
The lawfare targets, Martin said, “are finally beginning to fight back. You see it with Jeff Clark. You see it with Mike Howell. You see it with Cleta Mitchell. You see it with John Eastman. You see it with people around the country who have decided they are not going to disappear simply because powerful institutions have decided they should.”
Martin continued: “People can dress all of this up in the language of institutions, norms and professional responsibility. Spend enough time inside the system and you begin to see what is actually happening.
“This is no longer a disagreement between lawyers.
“That is why our response cannot be unilateral disarmament. We are not going to keep playing a game in which we voluntarily trap ourselves inside systems that other people have built, staffed and weaponized against us. We are not going to do that anymore.
“Where those systems can be reformed, reform them. Where they have to be wrecked, wreck them.
“And that includes judges. We are going to have to impeach judges. If members of the House will not impeach judges who refuse to abide by the law, then those members should get the hell out and voters should replace them with people who will.”
Martin went on to say that he has been witness to more of the lawfare system than most people.
“I looked at Lisa Monaco’s emails. I looked at Jack Smith’s inbox. I looked at what these people were doing. They are not playing around. Guys, gals, they are not playing around. So neither can we.”
The Constitution and the rule of law “are under assault, and everything is so off balance that it’s unbelievable,” Martin said. “The way prosecutors operated after January 6 should have set off a wholesale reexamination by lawyers and judges. You guys can’t go that far. You’re off balance. The judges didn’t stop it. The bar didn’t stop it, and they went forward.
“We keep thinking we can win if we have really good arguments. You can win sometimes. They let you win little things along the way. But look at what happens to people like Jeff Clark. He has suffered like hell. John Eastman should not have spent years thinking about this. He’s actually smart. He should be teaching people and doing other things. These cases take our people off the battlefield.
“That is why I believe in narrative advocacy. We have to constantly reframe the narrative. The cost of creating a narrative is lower than it’s ever been, and its distribution is more extensive than it’s ever been. The mainstream media is deteriorating. It is fading and distrusted. It’s still hard because big money is still over here competing and trying to change the narrative. But that’s where we have to fight.
“This is probably the greatest set of moments since the Revolutionary War. That much is at stake for the future of the world.”
