Just days after the Justice Department tasked its Weaponization Working Group with investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James, the group’s director, Ed Martin, sent a letter calling for her resignation — bypassing several procedural steps federal prosecutors typically follow before determining whether a subject engaged in criminal activity.
The letter was sent last week to James’ attorney, according to a copy reviewed by ABC News.
James’ legal team argues that the letter violates Justice Department norms and ethics rules.
Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas earlier this month as part of a civil rights investigation into James’ business fraud case against President Donald Trump and her office’s corruption case against the National Rifle Association, ABC News previously reported.
Trump and his eldest sons were found liable last year for 10 years of fraud that inflated the president’s net worth, and the case is now on appeal. James also won a $4 million judgment against NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre after a jury found that he and others misappropriated donor funds to finance luxury items for themselves.
Martin is also investigating two properties James owns in New York and Virginia.
These inquiries into James appear tied to a retribution campaign President Trump pledged against perceived adversaries, which Martin has been tasked to help lead.
In neither case has James been formally accused of wrongdoing, but Martin argued in his letter that her resignation would serve the national interest.
“Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding. I would take this as an act of good faith,” Martin wrote.
On Aug. 15, three days after sending the letter, Martin appeared outside James’ Brooklyn home wearing a trench coat and posed for a photographer from the New York Post. When a neighbor asked what he was doing, Martin said, “I’m just looking at houses,” but later told Fox News, “I’m a prosecutor … I wanted to lay eyes on it … I wanted to see the property.”
The visit raised concerns about adherence to Justice Department protocols. Sources told ABC News that both Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, told Martin the visit was unhelpful and counterproductive.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Martin did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for James, criticized Martin’s actions as evidence that he is not conducting a genuine investigation.
“[D]espite the lack of evidence or law, you will take whatever actions you have been directed to take to make good on President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s calls for revenge for that reason alone,” Lowell wrote in a letter to Martin on Monday, a copy of which ABC News reviewed.
“Just four days into your role, no search for facts or questions of law; instead, you twice called for Ms. James to resign. DOJ has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” she added.
